Am I the only one that thinks it is odd that a razor company tackled the issue of toxic masculinity in an advertisement? Well, regardless of the medium, it should not be controversial to send out this message to the public.

Gillette has recently put out an advertisement that talks about the issues with toxic masculinity in our modern society. The advertisement urged toxic men to change their ways and not be the patriarchal narcissists that portions of men are. Me, being a Caucasian male, I know how some men act and it is disgusting.

It is disturbing that men are publicly voicing their discontent about an advertisement. Seriously, do these people have anything better to do than attack a razor company for making a statement that is painfully true?

Time Magazine put together some tweets from various people who either supported or disagreed with the message in the advertisement. Some of the tweets stood out to me. A tweet from a person named Sam Radd (@TeamSamRadd) sates, “I will no longer support your company. I will NEVER apologize for being a male because you want to appease the ‘political correctness movement.’ Sad day when the best a man could get is a company calling out males for being men. #gilletteboycott.”

Another tweet from a man by the name of Andrew Kaplan (@akaplan41) states, “The problem with the ad is its premise is insulting – the premise is that all men are bad somehow and need correcting. It’s actually quite offensive to men. Why are they lecturing us?! Most men are good. I will join the boycott. #gilletteboycott #GilletteAd.”

A tweet that pokes fun at the men offended by this advertisement is from comedy writer Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman).

“Gillette: Men, could you please be the best versions of yourselves and care for yourself and others ?
Men: I beg your pardon?”

The advertisement is not sending the message that all men are bad–that is just an ignorant way to look at the message. Of course not all men can be classified as a part of “toxic masculinity.” It is ridiculous that men, the demographic that has been on the top of the socio-economic hierarchy for almost all of history, feel offended by a Gillette advertisement.

I hope all of the men out there reading this article who are triggered by this advertisement realize how pointless their argument is. If you are a normal person and agree with the message of this advertisement, you are fortunately not a part of the toxic masculinity demographic.

Also, another thing to consider for the massive uproar from this advertisement is the massive amount of publicity they are getting from it. So, the advertising department at Gillette hit a home run with his add, and all of the people talking about this (including me) are a part of their marketing plan for it.

Jordan Boyer is a senior history major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].