Last week, Gillette’s marketing team put out an ad aimed at raising the bar for men and encouraging them to be, ‘your best selves.’ All of a sudden social media was buzzing with frenzied consumers speaking out against the company, while others praised the brand for taking a stand. 

You would have thought that the razor giant was asking hipsters to ditch their beards and start shaving again for all the hysteria that the ad attracted. 

The tweets began, the hate and boycott threats followed, and one critic of the ad, Brian Millar, mansplained in Fast Company how the ‘purpose’ strategy backfired on Gillette and may not have been the best way to engender customer loyalty. That is, unless of course you like the ad, which plenty of people seem to, (men included). 

In his article, Millar cites poor purpose examples from other brands like J&J, Starbucks and State Street, ridiculing their soft language like ‘putting people first,’ and ‘nurturing the human spirit’ (shocking ideas, I know). 

Millar then exposed these same bad corporate players by digging up examples of their poor social responsibility through examples of tax evasion and underpaying women. Too bad he left out human trafficking, environmental degradation, resource depletion, inequity, or any mile long list of corporate infractions that occur in most corporations around the world.  

His tongue and cheek characterization about the purpose trend and the Gillette ad example: “the world’s top companies staring nobly into the middle distance, it seemed to be the dawn of something magnificent: capitalism with a soul. LOL, just kidding.”

And kidding, he must be. 

The thing is, Millar’s own communications firm works to create ads that have to pass his firm’s test. Corporate social responsibility rigor? Other responsible standards or certifications? Well, not exactly. Millar’s communications firm puts his clients through the FUBI filter. Yes, ‘FUBI’, at Millar’s firm, the Paddle Group, stands for “Funny, Useful, Beautiful, and Inspiring.” 

How endearing. How genuine.  

This test is clearly so much more authentic than those purpose-driven brands seeking to capture those millennials who actually care about things like gender equity, fighting sexism and taking a stand about something like the environment, climate change or diversity. 

The thing is, change is slow, especially in global corporations or their advertising and marketing depts. There are a few good ones, (he mentions Patagonia, the best example). And while some companies are more diligent at being less bad than others, most brands have a long way to go. That said, pressure from consumers to clean up their act, is part of driving real change. 

Let’s now take purpose off the table and imagine that we put Gillette’s ad through Millar’s firm’s FUBI filter for the ad. 

Funny?

 I don’t know about you, but any ad for men’s razors that opens with embarrassing news reports on men behaving badly as his woman kisses him on the cheek while he shaves, and a deep voiceover comes on asking smoothly, “Is This The Best A Man Can Get?” 

That seems pretty funny to me. Ok, sarcastic, sure but I’m laughing inside. (And I bet every bad-acting guy out there is too.)

Useful? 

I bet millions of women are thinking it’s pretty useful having examples of blatant and run amok sexism pointed out in a TV ad, the kind that women live with everyday. From the boardroom to a child’s TV cartoon, examples are laid out frame by frame for every guy to both cringe at and see himself in one of many everyday situations that go on, in case he doesn’t remember. 

But we women do remember, so this outdated idea that ‘boys will be boys’ could be useful for guys to take in. 

Beautiful? 

To me, there is nothing more beautiful than an NFL player exclaiming, ‘Men need to hold other men accountable.” 

Inspiring

As for inspiring, I suppose it depends on the viewer. 

Everyone is inspired by different things. My male and female friends and colleagues seem pretty inspired seeing Gillette take on sexism and bullying post #metoo. 

Maybe Millar’s firm didn’t watch the ad with an audience to gauge how inspired people might feel about with messaging that holds men to a new standard. Maybe Brits are simply more cynical. 

I know this, though.  “Purpose”, Millar claims, “is something you believe, not something you make up one day as a marketing strategy.” He’s right. I believe in purpose and in brands that stand for things.  I also try to support those who are less bad than others. And even though Millar is in the business of making up marketing strategies like FUBI, last I checked, ‘funny’, ‘useful’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘inspiring’, like purpose, are all worth believing. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0&t=7s