Gillette's 'The Best Men Can Be' ad took on toxic masculinity — and the audience revolted

On 13 January 2019 Gillette released a short film, 'We Believe: The Best Men Can Be.' It opened by questioning the slogan the brand had used since 1989 — 'The Best a Man Can Get' — asking 'is this the best a man can get?' It then showed scenes of boys bullying one another and men behaving badly, before ending on a more hopeful note and reworking the slogan to 'The Best Men Can Be.' The message was that the boys watching today would be the men of tomorrow.

The reaction split immediately and loudly. Many viewers praised the message; many others read it as an attack on men. The film became one of the most-disliked videos on YouTube, and calls spread to boycott Gillette and its parent, Procter & Gamble. The debate was less about razors than about who the brand thought its customer was.

Procter & Gamble stood by the campaign, saying it was proud of the film. The episode became a textbook case of a brand stepping into a culture war: the customers who already agreed with the message did not need convincing, and the ones who did not blamed the product. The argument was never really about razors — it was about who the brand believed its customer was, and a large share of them felt lectured rather than flattered.