Let me explain why this ad is a marketing disaster. Regardless of the intention behind it, the fact is a company that specifically targets men to sell its products has just released an ad effectively saying that men aren’t doing enough. The problem is most men are perfectly fine individuals who are doing as best they can and are going to take this the wrong way as a company trying to tell them how they should act. Now, if the intention was to show aspect of positive masculinity that should have been the entire focus of the ad, it should have shown fathers teaching their sons how to shave, brushing their daughters hair, helping fix things around the house, etc, instead it starts off with negeative aspects about masculinity. A big rule of advertising is you don’t talk down to your customers, and this ad does exactly that whether intentional or not, to my utter bafflement. I’d go so far to say this is the worst decision I’ve seen from a big company since New Coke. Once the bond is broken with a company it’s hard to get it back. So yeah, this is a terrible campaign. If Shcick had any sense right now they’d do a response to this add that focuses entirely on the good men in the world, because Gillette has just scored an own goal.
Well said.
