Assignment 1 - Sexist advertisement about masculinity.

The reception to this ad was not as the company expected, so far it has gotten over 1.5M dislikes and if you think that people are mad about this video because they support bullying, toxic masculinity, sexual harassment, rape or God forbid man-spreading, then you are completely out of touch with reality.

Firstly, bullying. Bulling is a crucial thing in a mans life, that's how men establish social hierarchy and learn to fight back. Not matter how much time you spend saying that bullying is bad, it is always going to be a part of life. Young men have testosterone, they like to compete, they like to fight, they bully each other and eventually they fight back and learn what it takes to be a man. Young men will carry that lesson through out their life and they wont back down from problems no matter how big they are.

Secondly, sexual harassment. No one in the right state of mind agrees that sexual harassment is fine.
The majority of men are not sexually harassing women but the problem is if a man "hits on" a woman and she likes it then it is not sexual harassment, if she doesn't like it then it is harassment. There might be many reasons for these outcomes but usually it varies whether the woman finds the man hitting on her, attractive or not. So the better looking a guy might be, the more he can get away with it, but looks are all subjective anyways so this part doesn't bother me but it bothers me to know that this ad might discourage men to approach women that they find attractive and whom they would like to get to know and possibly date. This is harming for both men and women since it makes them loose out on the thrill of potentially good healthy relationships happening spontaneously.

Thirdly, man-spreading.
I find it ridiculous to explain but.  Men have penises. Men have testicles. Men have organs in between their legs! We can't just squish them together. Although we try to maintain proper sitting positions, biologically, we have to "man-spread" from time to time. But this issue is nonsensical so it is better for us to switch our focus into more important matters.

The problem with this ad is that they managed to generalize an entire gender which is their core demographic and identify them all as predators. Although it is true that men are the most committers of crimes and of specifically sexual crimes, those are the actions of a small percentage of the overall male population.

To really understand why this ad is insulting and upsetting to some people, you should just imagine if they had made a video like this about any other group of people in the world that have some representation in crime, and then telling all of them that they need to be better people. For sure there would have been riots if they would have done this to any religious group or any racial group that is over-represented in the crime world. You may say that you can not compare race and religion with gender but since it is not okay to generalize women, then it should not be okay to do the same with men. I have nothing against companies showing support or compassion towards sexually harassed and abused victims. But in my opinion it is probably best to do that without accusing an entire gender on being harassers or the very least, potential harassers.

In no way shape or form do commercials have an effect on culture. The marketing teams, simply want to tap onto people's emotions to increase shareability which will result in more views to their advertisements. They are using these sensitive topics for their own profit. Speaking of Gillette, they represent themselves with hypocrisy because they literally uphold the Pink Tax!

 But it hasn't always been like this. There were times when companies would affirm positive aspects of masculinity such as this ad from Gillette back in 1989.

Back then masculinity represented men as being athletic, strong, positive, being good leaders, good fathers and loving husbands. The propaganda on the 2019 ad  neutralizes masculinity to fit their agenda and depict and charge all men for the blame of a small percentage. As shown in the 1989 advertisement it is far better to focus and showcase something positive, that will inspire men to be and act as better men. Doing this, instead of shaming will result in better outcomes for all of humanity.