Gillette’s tagline, “The Best a Man Can Get,” is one of the world’s most iconic. But as the brand entered 2019, the cultural landscape for men was in turmoil. The definition of “masculinity” was under fire, with new allegations of male bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct surfacing almost daily. As a preeminent male brand that has always celebrated its role in grooming generations of men – both literally and figuratively – Gillette was uniquely positioned to take a stand.

But entering the contentious conversation and “doing what was right” came with considerable public relations risk, especially in today’s virulent online environment. Our goal was to help Gillette exert leadership around these issues, navigate the court of public opinion, invite more men to get off the sidelines, and launch a larger social responsibility initiative to positively influence the next generation.

To provoke a global, real-time conversation and debate, we turned Gillette’s famous tagline, “The Best a Man Can Get,” into an open question. Asking, “Is this the best a man can get?” we intentionally flipped the brand narrative, encouraging men not to be bystanders, but to take action in role modeling a new standard of masculinity for the next generation; to consider what it really means to be “the best.” With a single brand film released on YouTube and announced via media exclusives arranged with select national news outlets, we posed the provocative question – fully expecting an emotionally-charged public response. And we were right. Within hours, the brand found itself at the epicenter of the masculinity conversation, drawing passionate reaction from around the world.

PR knew from experience that initial response would come from the angriest critics. But instead of following the conventional issues playbook, we would not moderate, mitigate or proactively challenge critics in order to defend the film. Instead, we’d let these extreme voices rage, amplifying the conversation and proving our point. The people fighting against a new standard of masculinity were ironically demonstrating the need for change. They also inspired a tidal wave of supportive voices that rose organically in Gillette’s defense.

Our efforts went beyond the film’s release. PR helped Gillette look internally and scrub its own channels of past content misaligned to the new standards, and orchestrate a three-year, $3 million commitment to supporting innovative community programs dedicated to grooming the next generation.

Midnight, January 14, 2019. Gillette released the brand film on its YouTube channel.

Within hours, the hashtag, #TheBestMenCanBe, went live, followed by a planned exclusive in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, which called it “a risky move.” An official press release followed, sharing the content, and the brand’s commitment to effecting change through charitable partnerships, and its point-of-view on why it had taken action.

Enraged critics fired back immediately and predictably -- accusing Gillette of attacking all men and masculinity itself. Instead of defending the message and confronting the criticism, we counseled to let the haters hate from across the spectrum of consumers and news media, and allow the conversation to unfold in full force. Our resolve and patience was rewarded as PR worked in parallel to marshal the many positive, reasoned media voices also wanting to be heard. What began as an overwhelmingly negative conversation turned positive.