Feminism. To some, it is a movement of power and equality. To others, it is a movement past its prime that boils down to petty arguments and ridiculous demands. While feminism has always had its roots ground in equality for everyone, no matter their gender, it has commonly been misconstrued as a movement to solely empower women. However, one of the pillars of feminism is centered around deconstructing the concept of toxic masculinity, which has subtly ingrained itself within our society. With such a title, the fight against toxic masculinity has been misinterpreted as a fight against masculinity and the male gender as a whole. Toxic masculinity not only pushes women down, but it also traps men within a destructive pattern of behaviors that have only recently been acknowledged by the masses. The effects of toxic masculinity have been explained and discussed by many, but there are two distinct displays that have brought international attention to the issue. While tackling the issue of toxic masculinity, hygiene companies Gillette and Always reveal the different, yet harmful, effects that toxic masculinity has on society. Using common places, the ad campaigns ran by both companies reveal a different side to the same coin. On one hand, Gillette demonstrates how the objectification of women and systematic institution of hyper masculinity establishes toxic masculinity within future generations with it’s We Believe: Best A Man Can Be advertisement. On the other, Always showcases how the indoctrinated superiority of men destroys confidence in women with its #LikeAGirl movement.

Through its use of Kairos and commonplaces, the Gillette ad The We Believe: Best A Man Can Be calls attention to the aspects of toxic masculinity that have been subtly ingrained into our society and challenges men to hold each other accountable in order to bring about true change.As mentioned before, toxic masculinity affects all people within our society. It directly affects some, while also indirectly targeting and wearing down others. Released in January 2019, the We Believe: Best A Man Can Be ad utilized the Kairos of the #MeToo movement in order to start a conversation about this topic. However, the ad is unique in the way that it carries out its purpose. While the #MeToo movement is centered around women defending themselves against sexual harassment and violence, Gillette challenges men to hold each other accountable. Thus, in joining the movement, Gillette is not simply following the train of tearing down men, a criticism often brought up when discussing the #MeToo movement. Instead, Gillette is using this movement to bring both women and men together in order to address the issue of toxic masculinity and show how it affects everyone, regardless of gender. In order to do this, the ad presents a series of events that are stereotypically sexist, but it also shows how society typically reacts to these events and makes excuses for the sexist behavior. The biggest example of this is the ad’s use of the phrase “boys will be boys”. In the ad, two boys get into a fist fight while parents, particularly the fathers of the children, simply watch and say, “boys will be boys,” (Gillette). This simple watching while doing nothing reinforces the idea that boys are meant to be hyper aggressive and violent instead of peacefully resolving their problems. This mentality of excuses is compounded by the intro to the ad where a young boy is being bullied as a large group of boys chase him. This example shows how the excusatory acts of society have allowed an environment of violence foster into bullying and harassment.

The ad also touches on commonplaces of sexual harassment and misogyny as it displays a series of sexist television programs being watched by three young men. These television programs each objectify women, either as the butt of sexist jokes, or making them out to be nothing but sexual objects. However, the important thing is that the ad shows a large crowd of people laughing at the jokes and enabling the sexist acts to be carried out. This is a clear parallel to society, and while these actions have recently brought up and frowned upon, there are still many examples of sexism within media such as shows like Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, and Friends (Sandoval). Each of these shows makes jokes at the expense of women and generally show women as weak, dim-witted, or makes any issue they bring up trivial, yet millions watch and revere these shows, and many like them. The key to this ad is how it challenges the audience to stand up to these commonplaces. While it shows how society currently views the issues of toxic masculinity and excuses them at first, it then shows society, and men in particular, standing up and tearing down these ingrained habits. First, the crowd of men that were laughing at the sexist TV shows now have deadpan expressions. It then shows a series of men attempting to catcall and sexually harass women, but before they get the chance, other men stand up and stop them. Finally, the boy that is being bullied and chased in the beginning of the ad is stopped by a man walking with his son. All of these instances show men breaking the mold and attempting to stop acts of toxic masculinity, and the ad challenges its audience with its last words: “Is this the best a man can get?” (Gillette).

While the Gillette ad focused on what men can do to challenge toxic masculinity, feminine care producer Always took a different approach. Through the #LikeAGirl campaign, Always is attempting to remove the insult “like a girl” from our society. It focuses heavily around the fact that such language makes adolescent girls believe they are inferior to men, especially during puberty when they are most vulnerable to self-esteem issues (Always). The ad, released in June 2014, starts by asking both men and women to perform acts like running, fighting, and throwing a ball “like a girl”. Each person performs these acts in a dainty, impractical way, proving that the idea of doing something like a girl is already inferior to how it should be done. The ad then asks the same question to pre-pubescent girls, in which they all carry out the acts normally, as if doing something “like a girl” is no different than just doing it. The ad then shows the young girl’s reactions back to the adults and highlights how sexist it is to turn “like a girl” into an insult.

The purpose of every ad is to sell a product. However, instead of making their ads focus on their product, Gillette and Always instead establish that they care about their customers, building up the ethos of reliability. Both ads show how toxic masculinity affects both men and women, and how harmful toxic masculinity can be. Both ads show how toxic masculinity can be stopped. While they each approach the topic from a different perspective, the message from Always and Gillette is clear: toxic masculinity is not something that can be excused anymore.

 

Works Cited “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be.” YouTube, uploaded by Gillette, 13 January 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0 “Always #LikeAGirl.” YouTube, uploaded by Always, 26 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs Sandoval, Rossana. “Six Sexist Shows We All Watch and Probably Love.” Her Campus, www.hercampus.com/school/slu/six-sexist-shows-we-all-watch-and-probably-love.