LO1: Analysis of the "The Best Men Can Be" Gillette Campaign

The primary target audience of the “The Best Men Can Be” Gillette advertising campaign is men, with no age, race, political or class bias. This is because of the key messages of this campaign, which are consistent messages encouraging men to “be better”. Methods of advertising used are typical traditional methods, with a short film ad being released to encourage the dismantling of toxic masculinity and male violence. Other methods include viral marketing, the hashtag “#TheBestMenCanBe” being used in hopes of spurring a viral status from the campaign. Examples of synergy in the campaign are the same actors/models being used across the short film, Gillette official site and social media account, which all contribute to its themes of breaking down toxic masculinity, standing against sexual assault and supporting the #MeToo movement.

The campaign materials were all released simultaneously. This is effective as it prevents the push from seeming performative – the single release means that no spectacle was generated and the subject matter was not trivialised. The campaign was produced in late 2018 and released in early 2019 as a direct response to the #MeToo movement, essentially serving as a public statement from the Gillette brand that they stood with the motion. #MeToo was a movement that really blew up in 2017, and whilst this response may seem delayed it is likely that a lot of thought was put into handling this issue as it is a socially sensitive subject. Technological convergence has helped this campaign as it allows for the widespread nature of it, moreover the hashtag would not have been able to be released had it not been for the development of black box devices and web 2.0. Legal issues are a far minimal concern to this campaign than ethical, however some it could have faced are ensuring that all actors/models didn’t retire their contracts or violate them, especially considering the sensitivity of the topic. Along with this, ensuring that no content is copyrighted would be important as this may have on a knock-on effect to the credibility of the brand’s intention. Ethical issues the campaign could have faced are ensuring all groups represented in the campaign’s content are fairly represented, moreover that the #MeToo cause is truly represented and not slandered, especially due to its high regard in the public by the time of the campaign’s release.