On Gillette and ‘The Best Men Can Be’: A Close Shave with Cultural Capitalism

For some time now, a central theme of our politics has concerned the discourse surrounding ‘Social Justice’. One of the more recent names to engage with this dialogue has been the razor producer Gillette. Amidst this discourse, widely gaining mass-attention through the #MeToo campaign against sexual assault, Gillette made a conscious decision to underpin their latest advertising with a message criticising ‘Toxic Masculinity’ and its place in society. Although Gillette has previously capitalised on a masculine rhetoric in order to sell their razors – as ‘The best a man can get’ – their new campaign shifts focus to a different rhetoric, namely: ‘The best that men can be’. In response, the campaign befell both widespread praise and condemnation en masse. Some argue that it sends the right message in creating a more just society, and others that it is another message of political correctness, assaulting masculinity. Overall, the public response has been one of micro-controversy, leading to a dip in UK-wide sales and some division amongst ourselves as to whether the campaign fronts a positive attitudinal shift, or otherwise2. Nevertheless, as interesting and important as this particular debate is, it seems to have been widely forgotten that behind this advert is a marketing campaign designed to aid the sale of razor blades. In this vein, Gillette appears to be the most recent company adding to the tone of the mode of production defining our socio-economic relations, which, of course, is Capitalism. Thus, we come to the scope of this piece – to lay out some rather rudimentary thoughts on the Gillette advert, its place in the contemporary Capitalist mode of production and our wider political discourse.