You’ve probably seen the latest ad razor company Gillette put out, citing “toxic masculinity.”
Smearing all men for demonstrating bad behavior isn’t just philosophically unsound, but also financially moronic, as Villanova University marketing professor Charles Taylor noted, according to Campus Reform.
Taylor said “Politically charged language should be avoided by advertisers.” “The use of the term “toxic masculinity” in the ad was a flat out mistake. While only mentioned quickly and briefly, the use of this term, which many men associate with a one-sided critique and stereotype of an entire gender.”
“Regardless of how much some without marketing backgrounds would like to believe that companies taking political stances…is okay, alienating a substantial proportion of the target audience is never a good thing.”
Another good argument. Not only will you polarize people who were otherwise interested in your product, but you’ll also incentivize them to tell others who might be interested and create a boycott, although conservatives don’t tend to do a lot of that. Then again, they may get some new customers out of people who think “the personal is political” and use apps like this.
Anyway, I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to see a professor actually speak with some sense about this story. The social sciences and humanities are in trouble but perhaps business is still based.
