Gillette India’s history of Anti-male advertising

It is really saddening that while companies making women’s products bend over backwards to work for women’s causes , companies like yours who make a living making men’s products vilify and show men in a negative light.

Gillette has a history of creating advertisements that incite marital and gender discord to sell its products. Around 2009 Gillette created a very controversial advertising campaign hiring some failed Bollywood actresses who gave out the message that a man having a beard in lazy and useless and urged female companions (girlfriends and wives) not to co-operate with men unless they shaved their faces. Would Gillette who also makes female shaving razors have the guts to create a campaign which said that  unless females who did not shaved their legs are ugly and that and asked men not to cooperate with women who did not shave their intimate areas of legs.  

The above example shows that Gillette instead of promoting the welfare of men conveniently misuses( shamefully so)   the inherent misandry(male hatred) prevalent in the society to its benefit.  Calling males names, accusing them of derogatory behaviours and urging female companions of inciting gender discord is all an accepted strategy at Gillette to sell products.

And after all the protests and the bad press that Gillette got in India after the shameful Anti-Male campaign in 2009 Gillette it appears has learnt nothing from it whatsoever. In these latest advertisements Gillette is promoting the message that men need to turn to solider to protect women and only then will they get their respects. While millions of sons of India have become martyrs already for the nation which is nothing but society and family , how many women have so far died protecting the country? Not even one !  While females demand reservations in comfortable posts in the government and private sector, have you heard of a single demand for women demanding reservations for defending the country’s borders in Siachen and Assam?

Gillete making more Keenan’s and Reuben’s( The unknown Protector)

Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez from Mumbai are two innocent men who in 2011 on the lines of the Gillette message gave their lives for protecting an unknown woman.[1] While the woman was unhurt these young men died protecting this woman. What was the outcome ? Was there a single fund created to protect men from violence ? Was there a single company , NGO or Government agency that intervened asking for new laws to protect men from violence?  In this age of equality women are responsible for the safety of men as much as men are for women’s. However Gillette’s is selling wares reinforcing of the behavior that Keenan and Reuben demonstrated and this will only lead to more men dying and Gillette wants to sell men’s products based on men being exposed to needless violence and deaths? Does Gillette know that Men and boys in India are already exposed to over 5 times more violence that women and girls and most of it is incited because of protection syndrome for women and family. Are the lives of men so cheap as cannon fodder that Gillette is promoting even more men becoming soldiers. Why is Gillette sending the message that death and violence for protecting women is a must in  order to gain manhood and thus gain acceptance from women. If Gillette has any conscience left must stop these advertisements immediately , publish an apology and  create  a memorial (on the lines of India Gate Delhi) paying homage to the millions of innocent men who have died protecting women. 

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[1] http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-05/mumbai/30363483_1_eve-teasing-case-keenan-and-reuben-death-penalty