Catch up on all the news you might have missed with our handy summary of the week’s top stories. We’re pleased to bring you “While You Were Out”—the Verily editors’ quick takes on the happenings of this week. Gillette's New Ad Addresses Toxic Masculinity in the Age of #MeToo Gillette’s latest advertisement took social media by storm this week when it introduced a discussion on toxic masculinity, sexual harassment, and the #MeToo Movement. The ad, titled “We Believe” played off of their famous tagline, “the best a man can get,” and instead asked, “Is this the best a man can get?” The ad featured a series of news clips regarding sexual assault, and scenes of bullying and harassment brushed off with a cavalier, “boys will be boys.” However, the ad took a turn when it showed men demonstrating to that men can play a different role. In reference to the #MeToo movement, the narrator says, “We can't hide from it. It's been going on far too long. We can't laugh it off, making the same old excuses. Something has finally changed." It ends with men standing up to bullies, breaking up fights and being a positive and present example to their sons. The commercial has received a wide range of reactions from praise to threats from men to boycott the company, calling the ad, “feminist propaganda.” But Gillette isn’t backing down from the message. They expected a debate and their parent company, Procter & Gamble is no stranger to using advertisements to send powerful messages, such as Always feminine products’ “Like a Girl Campaign” and Pantene’s “Strong is Beautiful” ad. “It is about men taking more action every day to set the best example for the next generation,” said Pankaj Bhalla, Gillette's North America brand director. "This was intended to simply say that the enemy for all of us is inaction." While there are plenty of male allies to the #MeToo movement, sometimes, as women, we feel we are fighting this battle alone. From that perspective, “We Believe” was refreshing in its drawing attention to men like actor Terry Crews, who was quoted in the ad saying, "men need to hold other men accountable." While this may seem like an odd backdrop for a razor ad, and for some the ad was offensive in assuming the worst of its clientele, for me, it was heartwarming that Gillette stepped up to the plate. —Gabriella Patti U.S. Birth Rate Reaches 30-Year Low According to a new National Vital Statistics report published last Thursday, the birth rate in the United States has officially reached a 30-year low. A rate of 2,100 births per 1,000 women is necessary to sustain a population at the same level, and this report shows a current rate of only 1,765.5 per 1,000 women, or 16 percent below the number needed to keep our population stable. This means that we are not producing enough children to replace ourselves, which could pose future economic problems. Only two states currently have total fertility rates above the levels for the states' populations to replace themselves, namely South Dakota and Utah. Experts point to several factors as the reason for our country’s steadily declining population, chief among is the fact that women are becoming mothers at a later age. Despite the fact that our economy is currently very healthy, women are delaying childbirth and marriage as they pursue new job and education opportunities. And while the evolving roles of women in society are a positive change, these declining rates are still slightly concerning for future generations. One professor, Dr. Helen Kim, even suggests in an NBC report that “as women delay childbearing they may not realize that fertility declines with age and that there are limits to what fertility treatments can do for them.” If she is correct, then I hope that women are able to better understand their fertility and how a lack of awareness relates to possible infertility so that birth rates do not continue to spiral downward.—Madeleine Coyne UCLA Gymnast's Perfect 10 Floor Routine Goes Viral Katelyn Ohashi blew away the competition—and a good portion of the internet—with an incredible gymnastic floor routine that earned her a perfect 10.0 at the Collegiate Challenge competition in Anaheim, California. The routine lasted just a minute and thirty seconds, but the difficulty of the moves she executed flawlessly is staggering. Her coach, Valorie Kondos Field, called the routine “ridiculously hard” and even “insane.” What’s more inspiring is the look of pure joy on Ohashi’s face as she performs. Her smile and buoyant expression make it clear that she’s not just good at what she’s does—she’s having a really good time doing it. Her expression is that of hard work paying off and that of someone finding her groove and embracing it. In the video, her team is visible as well, shaking their heads and moving their arms in unison with their teammate, cheering her on as she sticks each move with grace and confidence. The team finished in first place, due in part to Ohashi’s score, as well as a perfect 10.0 scored by Kyla Ross on the uneven bars. Kondos Field attributed the team’s win to a shift in mentality: “they just decided to be great and they decided to trust their training, and when your mind decides, there is no other option.” —Lindsay Schlegel Study Shows the Odds of Dying from an Opioid Overdose Exceed Deaths by Car Crash The opioid crisis in the United States has reached such astounding levels that a recent report shows that in 2017 the odds of dying from an accidental opioid overdose exceeded those of dying in a car crash. According to the National Safety Council, which conducted the report, the chances of dying in a car crash are one in 103, compared to an opioid overdose, where the chance is one in 96. The report revealed that while most Americans are still more likely to die from natural causes, deaths by natural causes have gone down, whereas the preventable deaths are have gone up.<doc-sep>Soon after Gillette’s ad appeared online, its rival Dollar Shave Club posted a message on Twitter that seemed to welcome new customers. The post was liked more than 4,500 times, compared with a few dozen likes on the company’s other posts. This is not the first time Procter & Gamble, which owns Gillette, has echoed progressive themes in its marketing. The company’s Pantene hair products line once ran a “Strong Is Beautiful” campaign, which featured football players from the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys braiding their daughters’ hair. The #LikeAGirl campaign for the Always feminine hygiene products, which encourages girls to face the fear of failure, shows them playing chess, fencing and drumming. But in taking a position on the idea of toxic masculinity, Gillette and Procter & Gamble could be dealing with a “hot potato,” said Dean Crutchfield, the chief executive of the brand advisory firm Crutchfield & Partners. “If this is just a quick campaign to get some attention, not something they’re weaving into the fabric of their company going forward, it’s going to blow up in their face,” he said. “This is a huge topic and it’s highly sensitive, and I don’t think P. & G. had done anything as explosive as this could be.” Other companies have also inserted themselves into discussions about sexuality, race, culture and other contentious issues. Years ago, Old Spice wanted to convince men that shower gel was masculine while appealing to the women who were actually buying the product. The resulting “Smell like a man, man” campaign is now considered a marketing triumph.<doc-sep>Kirsten Powers Opinion columnist The razor maker Gillette is taking on toxic masculinity. Based on the furious reaction to this effort in some quarters, the message is more needed than perhaps we even realized. In a new two-minute advertisement, the famous Procter & Gamble brand tells men to “say the right thing” and “act the right way.” The ad plays on the company’s slogan, "The best a man can get,” replacing it with, "The best men can be.” It portrays a montage of male bullying, harassment and sexist behavior and men stepping in to intervene to stop the behavior. “So nice to see @Gillette jumping on the ‘men are horrible’ campaign permeating mainstream media and Hollywood entertainment,” tweeted actor James Woods. “I for one will never use your product again.” Fox News host Greg Gutfeld echoed the outrage by claiming that the ad is “crapping all over…men” and adding, “it’s almost as if [they] hate men.” Piers Morgan tweeted, “'I’ve used @Gillette razors my entire adult life but this absurd virtue-signaling PC guff may drive me away to a company less eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on masculinity. Let boys be damn boys. Let men be damn men.” A video of the ad on YouTube has garnered over 800,000 dislikes. Read more commentary: If you're mad at Gillette's toxic masculinity ad, maybe you're the problem Why did it take Susan Zirinsky 46 years to become president of CBS News? Johnathon Schaech: What I've learned after coming out with my MeToo story Anyone freaking out about a depiction of men intervening to stop bad behavior of other males should ask themselves why they are so triggered. This is simply a fairly anodyne ad encouraging men to rise to the occasion in the #MeToo era. The mere suggestion that perhaps men haven’t always behaved perfectly shouldn’t cause such an uproar, and it likely wouldn’t if it didn’t strike so close to home. Most men don't condemn other's bad behavior Gutfeld asserted that Gillette failed to recognize that “most men” condemn bad behavior “whenever they see it.” How anyone can even utter a thought like this in light of the Catholic Church’s ongoing sex abuse crisis is a mystery. In society at large, we have story after story, case after case, of women who were sexually harassed and even assaulted and who were completely ignored and often demonized when they complained. The legal system turned a deaf ear to them or re-traumatized them when they filed complaints. To the extent the legal system has changed, it was driven by the actions of feminist lawyers and activists, not men. Not only were most men not standing up for these women in the moment, they weren’t backing them up when the women stood up for themselves. This world where men have been unsung heroes fighting against their gender’s bad behavior is a purely mythical place. Such men absolutely exist, but they are not the norm. They are also exactly the type of men who would not be threatened by a razor ad. If more men had been condemning bad male behavior and taking steps to stop it, there would have been no need for the #MeToo movement. There is a positive way to exercise privilege This doesn’t make men inherently bad or evil. It makes them privileged. Part of being privileged is to be heedless to a problem that doesn’t affect you personally. It also means protecting systems that have served you well, even when they are harming other people. So, for example, white people who don’t say anything when unarmed black people are being brutalized and even killed by police officers are exhibiting privilege. Men who stay silent when they see harassment occurring because they don’t want to risk their position in a system that benefits them are exhibiting privilege. But there is also a positive way to exercise privilege. This seems to be the real point of the Gillette ad. It’s telling men to use their privilege as men to confront other men for their bad behavior. When a man speaks up about sexual harassment, it carries a different kind of weight than when a woman says it. If men feel they are risking the respect of their colleagues and fellow men, they are more likely to alter their behavior than if they are confronted by the office feminist. The ad was simply asking men to risk some of their comfort and take a stand when necessary. As actor and former football player Terry Crews says in a clip in the ad, “Men need to hold other men accountable.” This shouldn’t be so hard. Kirsten Powers, a CNN news analyst, writes regularly for USA TODAY and is co-host of The Faith Angle podcast. Follow her on Twitter: @KirstenPowers<doc-sep>Gillette is doubling down on a controversial new campaign that appears aimed at taking on so-called toxic masculinity — but has created a social media firestorm. The two-minute video from Boston-based razor brand Gillette urges men to act against sexual harassment, misogyny and bullying, asking: “Is this the best a man can get?” While fans are applauding the move, critics say it assumes men need to be steered away from negative tendencies. The ad starts off with audio of news about the #MeToo movement, saying, “We can’t hide from it. It has been going on far too long. We can’t laugh it off. Making the same old excuses. But something finally changed. And there will be no going back. “To say the right thing. To act the right way. Some already are, in ways big and small. But some is not enough. Because the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow,” the narrator continues. Gillette said on its website it is “time we acknowledge that brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture. And as a company that encourages men to be their best, we have a responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive and healthy versions of what it means to be a man.” Gillette said it wants to eradicate phrases like “Boys will be boys” and any justification for bad behavior. Gary Coombe, president of P&G Global Grooming, said in a statement, “By holding each other accountable, eliminating excuses for bad behavior and supporting a new generation working toward their personal ‘best,’ we can help create positive change that will matter for years to come.” “We expected debate. Actually a discussion is necessary. If we don’t discuss and don’t talk about it, I don’t think real change will happen,” Pankaj Bhalla, Gillette’s North America brand director, told CNN earlier this week. But many Gillette customers have taken to social media to voice outrage, saying they are switching to competitors like Schick, Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s. Soon after Gillette’s ad went up, Dollar Shave Club posted a message on Twitter welcoming new customers. Villanova professor Charles R. Taylor said it’s prudent for companies to avoid wading into divisive political issues. “Alienating the target audience in significant numbers is not a good idea,” Taylor told the Herald. “Unless they change this up or tone it down, I think they’re going to lose a substantial amount of customers permanently,” Taylor added. “The men who don’t like this ad view it as a company trying to tell them how to think politically. I don’t see any scenario where they gain customers from this.” Welcome to the Club. — Dollar Shave Club (@DollarShaveClub) January 14, 2019 This is not the first time a brand has taken a stance on contentious social issues. A 2018 Nike ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who led player protests of pregame national anthem ceremonies, generated both praise and boycott threats. A 2017 ad in which Kendall Jenner joined a protest rally and handed a Pepsi to a police officer was accused of trivializing the Black Lives Matter movement.<doc-sep>
Gillette faces backlash and boycott over '#MeToo advert' By Michael Baggs Newsbeat reporter Published 15 January 2019 image copyright Gillette A Gillette advert which references bullying, the #MeToo movement and toxic masculinity has split opinion online. The razor company's short film, called Believe, plays on their famous slogan "The best a man can get", replacing it with "The best men can be". The company says it wants men to hold each other "accountable". Some have praised the message of the advert, which aims to update the company's 30-year-old tagline, but others say Gillette is "dead" to them. The ad has been watched more than 2 million times on YouTube in 48 hours. Figure caption Warning: Third party content may contain adverts It currently has 23,000 likes and 214,000 dislikes, at time of writing - and that's increasing all the time. image copyright Gillette image caption People such as Piers Morgan have said they will boycott Gillette because of the message of the new advert In it, the company asks "Is this the best a man can get?" before showing images of bullying, sexual harassment, sexist behaviour and aggressive male behaviour. It then shows examples of more positive behaviour - such as stepping into prevent these behaviours when they happen in public. image copyright Gillette image caption In the advert, one man stops his friend from harassing a woman in the street Comments on the video are largely negative, with viewers saying they will never buy Gillette products again or that the advert was "feminist propaganda". "In less than two minutes you managed to alienate your biggest sales group for your products. Well done﻿," wrote one angry viewer. Twitter users are also sharing their disappointment with Gillette's new campaign. I’ve been shaving since I was 12, since the beginning I used Gillette because that’s what my father used, now I will never use it again, and neither will my father, collectively been your customers for 50+ years never again #BoycottGillette #Gillette — Ary (@ary31574363) January 15, 2019 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter @Gillette has made it clear they do not want the business of masculine men. I will grant their wish. I have used #Gillette razors since they sent me a free sample on my 18th birthday, and will no longer buy any of their products. — Rule The Wasteland (@MongoAggression) January 14, 2019 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter There have also been calls for Gillette, which is owned by Procter & Gamble, to post an apology video. But the brand believes the new advert aligns with its slogan and says it believes in "the best in men." "By holding each other accountable, eliminating excuses for bad behaviour, and supporting a new generation working toward their personal 'best,' we can help create positive change that will matter for years to come," says its president, Gary Coombe. The advert was directed by Kim Gehrig from the UK-based production company Somesuch, who also directed the 2015 campaign for Sport England, This Girl Can. image copyright Gillette image caption The advert encourages men to act with more respect and to set a positive example to young boys Gillette has partnered with the Building A Better Man project, which seeks to reduce violent behaviour in men, and The Boys and Girls Club of America, which helps young men develop better social and communication skills. It's also donating $1m (around £778,000) a year for the next three years to US charities aimed at supporting men. 'They must have known there would be backlash' But while the response to the ad has been largely negative, as the old saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity. "Their next steps are very important but it shouldn't necessarily be widespread panic yet," Rob Saunders, an account manager at UK advertising company the Media Agency Group, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. "Their ad is getting them good publicity and good numbers and causing a debate - which they must have known when they put out this ad. Rob says Gillette will have anticipated a negative reaction to the advert from some people. "This ad would have been approved by many people high up at Gillette," he adds. "So they must have known that there may have been a backlash."