Advertisers are always on the hunt for engagement and they will create anything to get people talking. With social media, a controversial Ad will go viral in minutes as it will be heavily shared. And that will be a successful tactic in passing the message in that particular Ad.
Any informed male know that Gillette had a provocative Ad that considered traditional masculinity to be toxic and bad in the society. We are all for a safe environment but that Ad rubbed many men the wrong way.
“Boys will be boys”? Isn’t it time we stopped excusing bad behavior? Re-think and take action by joining us at https://t.co/giHuGDEvlT. #TheBestMenCanBe pic.twitter.com/hhBL1XjFVo
— Gillette (@Gillette) January 14, 2019
In terms of marketing, the Ad was a success in passing the message and getting reactions out of the audience. But for PR purposes and maintaining customers, the Ad portrayed their main clients who are men in a wrong way. It portrayed anything aggressive as bad. Anything that involved male activity as harassment. When boys are playing in a football field, there is bound to be pushing and struggling for the ball. That is the nature of sports. You can’t call that harassment.
We understood what the Ad was trying to put across but it was extreme in its strategy. It came off as a smear campaign as opposed to an Ad Campaign. In fact they insulted their own customer base. They said boys will be boys is a bad line. We say boys will be men but the child in a man will never go away. They will still argue about Formula one even at 40.
However, they have many male clients and I suppose a few female clients. With that Ad, they could attract some female clients. I am sure feminists loved it.