Money Talks: Gillette Moves From Social Issues Back To Promoting Traditional Masculinity

Last month, The Daily Citizen informed you of how Procter & Gamble (P&G) took an $8 billion write down on its shaving company, Gillette. This happened after Gillette had put out several ads which angered its customers by insulting traditional masculinity and promoting transgenderism.
Now, after suffering such a large loss, Gillette has moved away from its social issues campaign and gone back to its roots (for now).
Hot Air reports that, “this week Gillette rolled out a new advertisement featuring the most traditionally masculine man imaginable: a firefighter.” The new ad features Ben Ziekenheiner who has been a firefighter for 19 years. In the ad, Ziekenheiner discusses the dangers he faces at work. “Honestly, it’s not the fire you worry about most. It’s more the constant reminder of who you might leave behind should anything ever go wrong.”
This is a great ad which honors the work of first responders. Hot Air reports that, “The ad is definitely a shift in tone from toxic masculinity. If the toxic masculinity ad contained a woke lecture, this one presents a much more traditional aspiration for manhood.”
In addition, Hot Air writes that, “whatever the reason, Gillette has gone from castigating ‘toxic masculinity’ to lionizing heroic masculinity in a matter of months.” One could get whiplash from trying to follow all the positions on social issues that Gillette has taken. First they promoted masculinity, then they demonized it, then they said women can be men and now they’re back to promoting masculinity.
What is quite comical is that Manu Airan, the associate brand director for Gillette Australia and New Zealand, stated that Gillette has “a very clear strategy when it comes to how we authentically connect with our consumers.” Taking four different positions on social issues over the span of several months doesn’t seem to be a very clear strategy.
Nonetheless, it seems like Gillette has decided that their venture into the social justice realm may have been misguided, particularly for a company whose main customers are men.
Yet, Gillette isn’t the only company to have been negatively impacted by its push to the Left. The Daily Citizen reported last month that in the 2nd quarter, Netflix lost 126,000 domestic subscribers even though they were forecast to have gained 352,000. Some of this may have been due to backlash against Netflix for threatening to pull its productions out of Georgia if the state’s new pro-life law took effect. “All major studios, including Disney and Netflix, stated that if the law went into effect that they would reconsider filming productions there in the future.”
It remains to be seen if corporate America as a whole will begin moving away from taking liberal positions on abortion and transgenderism. The Daily Citizen reported last month on the 206 large corporations who have urged the Supreme Court to write sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories into law. Such a ruling would have devastating consequences for women’s sports, religious freedom and free speech. For now, corporate America remains hostile to traditional Christian values.
We can only hope this will soon change. It seems these companies do listen to their customers if their liberal positions hurt their profits. Maybe these companies should take note of what I learned as a barista. “The customer is always right.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachary Mettler is a writer/analyst for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his Bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News and other outlets.
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