- Not all men are like that, so... - Exactly.
That's kind of my main issue with it.
- We can be men. We just don't have to be jerks.
We don't have to be sexist, misogynist jerks.
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- (reporter) Bullying... - (reporter 2) The MeToo movement
against sexual harassment... - Of course.
- I've seen this commercial. This is a good one.
- I've seen this. - It's been everywhere.
- (voice-over) Is this the best a man can get?
- I did-- I thought this commercial was very interesting.
- (voice-over) Is it?
We can't hide from it.
- Mm. - That's crazy.
- (voice-over) It's been going on far too long.
- There's parts in this video that, you know, make a lot of sense.
- (voice-over) We can't laugh it off.
- Is this just, like, a prevention on sexual harassment and assault?
- (man) Boys will be boys. - (man 2) Boys will be boys.
- Well, it's for sure commentary on the current culture.
- (businessman) What I actually think she's trying to say...
- (voice-over) Making the same old excuses.
- (man) Boys will be boys. - (man 2) Boys will be boys.
- Not true. Not true.
- (man) Boys will be boys. - (man 2) Boys will be...
- See, I have very mixed opinions on this.
I see both sides 100%.
- (voice-over) And there will be no going back,
because we... we believe in the best in men.
- (Terry) Men need to hold other men accountable.
- Terry Crews is a really cool guy.
- (voice-over) To say the right thing...
- See, I think overall, I think the message
was meant to be good. And I think people definitely
took it the wrong way. But I also think... I don't--
I just think they could've done a better job possibly
portraying the message, too.
- (voice-over) To act the right way. - (man) Not cool.
- Not cool! - (voice-over) Some already are,
in ways big... - (man) Y'all men.
Come on. Shake it, bro. - (voice-over) ...and small.
- (dad) I am strong.
- Awww. - That's cool. That's cool.
- (voice-over) But some is not enough. - Facts.
- That's right, man. Gotta do the right thing!
- (voice-over) Because the boys watching today...
will be the men of tomorrow. - It's a new world.
- What they should say is, "Be the bigger man."
- Ah, man. That's-- I'm glad it ended,
'cause I was getting kind of... - Yeah.
- Getting kind of misty there. - Oh, do we need tissues for you?
- No. No, no. - Can't argue with the message.
It's just the underlying tone of this message is targeted
towards one gender, one type of man, masculine, etc., etc.,
and that I find a little inappropriate.
- You can be masculine without being an A-hole.
It's great for a company like Gillette to remind us
that you don't have to be that way, that you can be a gentleman
and still be a man... - Yeah.
- ...and shave with a totally woke razor.
- I like it because, when I was in elementary
and middle school, I hung out with mostly girls.
So, people always were like, "Oh, yeah, you're gay"
and everything. I'm like, you don't have
to judge somebody by who I hang out with.
I can hang out with anybody I want to.
- When I was growing up, the best a man can get
was just about shaving and trying to look cool
in the mirror, but it's like, no, it's a new world.
I mean, it's all about treating people right, with respect.
- (FBE) So, that was a short film released by the razor company
Gillette, titled "We Believe the Best Man Can Be."
Since this advertisement focuses on males,
we have fathers with their sons today.
- Good idea. - Makes sense.
- (FBE) For transparency to those watching, we filmed this
in the LA area. And with it being a more liberal area,
it may not represent all opinions that are out there.
However, we still wanted to have this conversation to see
what people think. First, what do you think
the intended message of this campaign is?
- I think the intended message is a lot different
from what actually came out of this. Of course, nobody should be
going around assaulting each other and things like that,
but the way that the video goes about it, kind of seems
a little condescending. - It's not just the fact
that someone is being bullied, I think it's also the people
who are doing the bullying, to try to show them what's going on,
the actions that they're bringing upon someone else,
the detriment that it could bring to those people they're bringing it upon.
- When you're dealing with Gillette, which is a razor company...
men have to shave. So, they're targeting their audience,
and now they're trying to make a positive message
with their brand name. - I see what they were going for.
Holding men accountable, absolutely. With that said, I really feel
like the commercial generalized men in a negative way.
- It's just trying to say, stand up for each other.
Be a good guy. Be a good person in general.
But I do feel sort of targeted and cornered in a sense
because of this advertisement. - See, I don't feel targeted.
I feel that the men that are men-- this doesn't define
what a man is-- that can't stand up for themselves,
that can't stand up to a bully, that can't speak out,
they're attacking those people. - It's about respecting
other people and what he said on being a man and masculine
without being an [bleep]. - I think it's interesting
that you picked up on kind of a subtle thing that most people
aren't complaining about. They're complaining about the sexism
or it being against men or masculinity in general.
But I think it's also an anti-bullying message.
And yet, for the right side of America to be offended by this
anti-bullying campaign from Gillette is kind of bizarre.
- (FBE) Commercial aside, across your life,
have you heard the term, "Be a man"?
- Yeah, I've definitely heard that a lot.
Basically means to be strong. Maybe not literally physically,
but in some scenarios, yes. - I've heard it a couple of times.
- Just to clarify... I have not said that.
- (FBE) How do you define when someone tells you "Be a man"?
What does that mean? - When someone says "being a man,"
I think it is, like, you have to toughen up
and not show your weak side and persevere.
For me, the phrase was typically used in football practices.
- We are men. We can be men. We just don't have to be jerks.
We don't have to be sexist, misogynist jerks.
- It can mean a lot of different things
in a lot of situations, whether it's standing up
for what's right, you know. Like, maybe in the ad it says
standing up for the kid who's getting bullied.
- Being a man is not gender specific. Being a man or being a person--
It shouldn't be man or woman. Being a person of integrity,
being a person of responsibility, being a good person has nothing
to do with men or women. - I think they mean, like,
oh, yeah, be tough. And you know, you don't have
to be a man to-- or be tough to be a man, you know?
You could just be who you wanna be.
- That phrase is really-- it's really a sexist phrase,
"Be a man." You know, it's like, "Be human"!
- They would tell us just, like, "Be a man and don't cry
over little things," especially if it was in elementary school.
And I would hear it from my dad as well.
- I will admit that if I said that to him at any point in his life,
it probably was a serious-- I mean, a situation where
it was a frustrating moment to me, and I didn't have any other way
to get to him. My dad... (sighs)
I get choked up, man. This is terrible.
My dad was always careful in terms of the words he used.
I never heard it from him. And I knew even then
that the way that it was being stated was incorrect.
It was just something that I hoped I wouldn't do
when I was older. And I failed, but-- (laughs)
- (FBE) When it comes to this video,
did you like how they portrayed everything?
You know, even if you liked the message,
do you feel like any part was not conveyed properly?
- No, I think they did a really good job with it.
- No, I liked everything that they stated in the commercial.
- The message there is, like, you know, we have to convince you
in this climate now to be this way... - Which is...
- ...when it should be - ...annoying. Like--
- Right. - Which is-- shouldn't that--
that should be how you are all the time.
- Absolutely. - You shouldn't really have to be told.
- It was a little brutal. - Yeah.
- Not all men are like that, so... - Exactly. That's kind of
my main issue with it, because it's kind of, like--
it's making a huge generalization. - It always showing the bad.
And yes, of course, they showed a little bit of the good at the end.
But the main focus, the good majority of the video was showing the bad.
If they focused on something more positive, they wouldn't have had
such a negative impact. And I feel like that would've
gotten a message out better than how it is now.
- I do believe they sell women's razors too,
so is there gonna be another video coming out, you know?
Because it's just not men that are bad.
- I think they did a really good job on it.
They got their point through. - When you see someone
break out of that mold, it instills something in the people
it's affecting or the other people that are around them,
and it instills a change.
- (FBE) So, we want you to be honest. You can watch this and really believe
in the message and be told by your parents about how to act,
but for you or your peers, does hearing and seeing videos
like this truly make a difference in the world?
- I think it's just-- For my age group,
I think it's just a little reminder on the right thing to do.
But it's not gonna be something that we're constantly thinking of.
- I don't know if a commercial PSA will really affect young men
or even young women so much, because teenagers just are
gonna do the opposite of what you ask 'em to do anyway.
- I think it's a good start, but I think a lot of people,
no matter what you show them, are not gonna change who they are.
- If there's a better way to go around it,
a better way to, you know, stand up for things like this,
maybe that would help. But right now, all it's doing
is dividing people more. - Yes, it, of course,
makes me think and makes me have a discussion about it.
But it would never-- I don't think--
personally, it would never impact me to change,
'cause I already know what's good and what's wrong.
- This video doesn't change anything for me,
and that's just because of the fact-- like, I know who I am,
I know my morals and my rights, and I know what I can
and cannot do and what I should and should not do.
- All I can ask him to do is be held accountable for his actions.
- (FBE) Well, after this commercial was posted, many people
were quick to dislike the video, currently having well over
one million dislikes. - Really?
- Wow. Not as much as YouTube Rewind.
- (chuckles) - I have heard a lot of people,
they didn't like it.
- (FBE) Why do you think this has gotten so much negativity?
- Well, the fact that it's political, or political--
trying to be, I guess. I mean-- - I think it's 'cause they're trying
to tell people what to do and how to be, and nobody likes to be told.
- It's just-- naturally, it kind of just seems like an attack.
- Probably because people were growing u--
they grew up in a different way and they were taught that you have
to be a man in this specific way. - I hate to say it, but I think
a good percentage of that would just be trolls.
They're trying to make a point and simply just clicking
on a button to say dislike. - First of all,
with the likes thing, I think it really comes down
to that just being a bandwagon. But people just take what they wanna
see on the media, and then they break it down
to a political standpoint. "Well, if the left believes it
this way and I'm left, I'm gonna take it this way."
"If the right, and I'm Republican, I'll take it this way."
And people just sort of follow along with the norm.
- Some people feel like, you know, everything is moving along
just fine, and we don't need too much changes,
and all the sensitivity towards the other people.
I think that's wack. I mean, you know, people should
look at it, and you know, they need to look in the mirror
and look in their own families and see, you know, some of the pain,
some of the hurt that's been caused.
- (FBE) So, like we said earlier, we're in Los Angeles,
and not everyone's opinion may be represented.
So, we wanna raise some of the common complaints
surrounding the video. Some say this ad spreads
negative stereotypes about men, highlighting the actions
of a small minority. Others like the message,
but feel the ad was over the top and condescending.
- Absolutely. - Yeah. I could definitely see that.
- When the guy's going, "Arr!" to the girl, being, you know,
up on the ladder or whatever and the sexual harassment stuff.
They're doing that to make a point, which is, you know, you gotta give
bigger examples to make a point sometimes,
'cause you know, subtlety doesn't always sell.
- (FBE) Some men and also women are saying that this ad
is not the way to cover this issue, that tearing down men
to raise up women is not the best approach.
- I don't think that this ad was tearing down men at all.
Not every man in that ad was the stereotype of this rude,
sexist, misogynist guy. There were all these people
saying, "No, do the right thing" and illustrating it.
- (FBE) There are other opinions, of course, but hearing those,
do you understand why some people may have an issue with the video?
- Yeah. I mean, I don't-- I really don't feel that
the majority of women feel this way.
- I know they were trying to get a good message across,
but it did come across badly, unfortunately.
- It was condescending and offensive. Not to me, 'cause I know
I'm not that person. It's to my fellow man
that might not have any type of personality that can
stand up for somebody else. - I think at this point,
especially after the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and after Trump's
All Access Hollywood tape, it's really important to remind people
that that's not a way to behave, that you can't just grab women
without... you know, consent. - The majority of the negativity
in this country is because of men in power,
so we have to talk directly to men on EVERY level.
And we have to hold men more accountable for their actions.
- (FBE) Overall, there's also a lot of talk around being upset
with this commercial because a brand itself
was promoting these ideas. Even some people who liked the message
feel a bit odd to use social messages to kind of sell a product.
- Yeah. I don't understand what Gillette has to do with that.
- As a shaving company, it's not really their place
to make these political statements.
- (FBE) What do you think about a brand like Gillette using, you know,
their reach to have this specific point of view?
- I think it's great that they're promoting those ideas
and that's how people should act. - Number one, you know,
after the Nike commercial, they sold more shoes than ever.
And the same thing with Gillette I think is happening.
A few idiots are burning their $30 package of four razors
and other ones are saying, "Yeah, you know, I'm gonna
leave Dollar Shave Club and go back Gillette."
- From a marketing point of view, it's genius.
They're getting the publicity they want, just like the Nike ad
of the past. Bad publicity sometimes is good publicity.
- (FBE) So finally, do you think this is something you two
will discuss more or less in the future?
- Probably a little bit more. Not all the time,
but more than we have been. - I want him to make
his own decisions. It's not just simply,
"You will do this. You will do this."
It's better, to me, having healthy discussions.
- I think we've always kind of talked about these issues.
- Yeah. Something that's important like this, that kind of needs
to be said, needs to be talked about whether it's good or bad.
- It did cause us to have a conversation, which is maybe
what they're trying to attempt. - Yeah, probably.
- So, that's a positive. - We talk all the time
about that stuff. (laughs) - Yeah.
We do, you know, about treating people right,
about doing the right things, you know, stuff like that.
- He has my support 100%. I love you, bruh.
You know what I'm saying? I love the person you are.
And you know, we have to stand behind our children.
- We do have those conversations. They're not every day, of course.
- Yeah. - But I think you're--
you know, what I hear-- and it always shocks me,
but I hear it, is that you're actually
a total gentleman. And so-- - That shocks you?
- A little bit yeah. - (both laugh)
- You know, it totally makes me proud, but I'm always kinda like,
"Huh. When are you gonna act like that at home?"
- (snickers) - (laughs)