When the Gillette brand launches a dangerous campaign for women

On November 19, 2021, the Gillette brand published an online study on the occasion of “International Human Day”. Except that the event is not official and even relates to… the fight against women.

Do women suffer? Yes, but men too. This is in essence the message ofa study published this November 19 by Gillette, who wanted to highlight the feeling of oppression felt by the stronger sex. According to the Harris Interactive Institute, which conducted the study for the brand, “Almost a majority of men say they have already been victims of discrimination in their life, mainly in the family sphere”. A figure unveiled on the occasion of “International Human Day”, whose fame “Jumped 10 points compared to 2020” (year in which Gillette began to communicate on it), and whose goal is to “Remember that men still have to fight to overcome stereotypes”, can we read on the site of the giant of hygiene products.

Have you never heard of this famous day? This is normal: it is in reality nothing official, which confirms a quick online research. No dedicated Google page as is often the case for major world days, no mention in the calendar of the United Nations, which guarantees these highly regulated dates, but a Wikipedia page where a pixelated logo is next to an en- head indicating that a great deal of information on this page is not sufficiently sourced… But who is behind this initiative that smacks of testosterone?

Screenshot taken by aufeminin on Gillette France’s Twitter on November 19, 2021. The series of tweets presenting the study was deleted following our exchange with the brand.

International Human Day, false event, true enemy of women

Stephanie Lamy, researcher specializing in semantic operations * and feminist activist, traces the history for aufeminin. “International Human Day was launched in 1999 by an obscure researcher who promotes human health from Trinidad and Tobago, with an approach that can be described as ‘pro-human rights’. He is a masculinist, that is to say an activist in favor of maintaining the patriarchy. ” Magic of the Web, her project for the day has been exported all over the world, especially in France, where she is defended by several anti-women’s rights organizations. Among them, the hexagonal branch of Men Going Their Own Way, “Male supremacist separatists who claim to no longer have relations with women, details Stephanie Lamy, in order to create a negative shock on what they consider to be a sex market ” (Basically, allow men to finally take their revenge on the women who lead them to the fly).

Other promoters of this real-fake day, Rabid Fathers and SOS Papa, groups in favor of supposedly flouted paternal rights. “It is not for nothing that International Human Day falls on November 19, the eve of International Children’s Rights Day, underlines Stephanie Lamy. These groups defend the idea that fathers are oppressed during divorces, when the reality is that 92% of those who apply for joint residence obtain it, even when they have been convicted of domestic violence. They also bludgeon the information according to which three fathers commit suicide a day because of the mothers who have their rights ‘confiscated by the justice’, except that this figure is not based on anything‘”. Astonishing then that Gillette resumes their rhetoric, by putting forward in his campaign the need to “Enhance (…) the rights of fathers”, or the fact that 46% of men “believe they have already been victims of discrimination”, of which 31% “in the exercise of their function of father”.

The feeling of men, caviar for brands

Can we accuse Gillette of having suddenly mobilized against equality? No. The brand also claims that aufeminin wants to fight against gender stereotypes, in line with its 2020 campaign on representations of masculinities, which featured trans or gay men and had been hailed even in militant circles. progressive. So did she let herself be smothered by the masculinist propaganda, which asserts that International Men’s Day is a more legitimate initiative? Probably. But for Stephanie Lamy, the brand has above all sought to plow a fertile field: the question of male suffering. “Our society conditions us to be hyper attentive to male needs and feelings women are particularly educated in this. The question of human suffering is ideal for capturing collective attention: it seems more important to us than the others because it fits perfectly into the cognitive field. ”

We understand then that Gillette (and others, as evidenced by the hype by the brands of the tag # JournéeInternationnaleDeLHommes on the networks) has bet on this theme. The study published today is part of a larger communication campaign, carried out throughout the month of November: a partnership with the Movember association, mobilized against the dangers weighing on men’s physical and mental health. . A cause difficult to criticize… except that. “It’s great that men are interested in these issues,” says Stephanie Lamy. But we must not forget that health resources are mainly allocated to male pathologies, such as heart problems, to the detriment of those affecting women ”.

Same dynamic of invisibilization with the Harris Interactive study on the subject of “Anti-men discrimination”. If it is healthy to talk about the toxic injunctions that weigh on them (being strong, virile, productive …), would it not have been welcome to point out that they are fatal for women, due to one killed all? the three days by his spouse? And why highlight the fact that 43% of men believe they are victims of discrimination because of their gender, while pretending to ignore that the current organization of our society remains beneficial to them at all levels? Not sure that many are aware of this privilege among “The sample of 1,043 men representative of the French” , especially since as Stephanie Lamy emphasizes, “Men are not used to being annoyed and therefore feel very easily discriminated against”.

Screenshot of Harris Interactive study report for Gillette.

Marketing and women’s rights, the impossible equation?

By taking an interest in men’s “feelings”, Gillette therefore contributes to obscuring the reality, documented and factual, that women experience. Worse: it reinforces misogynistic discourse. 33% of men feel they are discriminated against at work? You can see that we cannot speak of systemic misogyny in business! 30% think they have been oppressed as part of domestic responsibilities? So let’s stop talking about the abysmal inequality in the sharing of tasks! A little music that feminists hear all the time: “Yes, domestic violence exists, but men are also beaten”, “OK to talk about the fact that you are raped, but guys are also being assaulted”, “Okay, the mothers are crushed by various pressures, but we must not forget how much the fathers suffer ‘”… Consciously or not, Gillette is providing bread and butter to the enemies of equality, who have fuzzy studies and misinformation their business.

Why is this particularly serious in 2021? Because masculinism is no longer a minority ideology that operates in the shadows. As proof, in addition to the blogs, YouTube channels and Twitter accounts which promote it, men’s suffering is today in the headlines in the mouth of Eric Zemmour, possible candidate for the presidency of the Republic. In early November, the far-right polemicist launched, for example, that the figures for the pay gap between men and women were “completely crazy” and that'”for equal jobs, skills and jobs, there are no differences in salary ”, in defiance of all the scientific work carried out on the question. Men would also be prevented, frustrated, in short, oppressed, by feminists restraining their very nature. Ah, the good times when a male could “Slip a concupiscent hand over a charming female buttock” without this one “File a complaint for sexual harassment”, he regrets in French suicide, his last box in bookstores.

In such a context, it is difficult to forgive Gillette this spotlight on the mascu ideology. This can be seen as proof that gender equality is too complex a subject for brands to tackle, without, at the very least, the help of researchers specializing in political dynamics in the world. work (last year, Gillette also called on sociologist Christine Castelain Meunier for her November campaign). The case goes even further, according to Stéphanie Lamy, who claims that she shows “How digital companies and marketing capitalize on anti-women sentiment, by betting on virality and ignoring our rights”. Supreme irony? November 19 marks, very officially this time, International Toilet Day. We will gladly throw in this failed com operation, as well as those who seek to pass men off as victims of patriarchy.

* Stephanie Lamy is the author of“Agora toxica – the uncivil society in the internet age” (ed. Michel Duclos), to be published in January 2022.

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