New Gillette ad challenges men to take responsibility for their actions: 'Is this the best a man can get?'

“What’s the best a man can get?” has been Gillette’s go-to question for the past 30 years.

Now with the #MeToo movement changing the conversation, Gillette has released a new ad with a revised challenge for men: “What’s the best a man can be?”

The new spot called “We Believe,” which was directed by Kim Gehrig, starts off with a series of men staring at their reflection set to the audio of newscasters discussing bullying, sexual harassment and toxic masculinity.

“Is this the best a man can get?” the ad questions.

The ad then goes on to show a vintage Gillette ad of a woman kissing a man, followed by a gang of bullies chasing a young boy, men making lewd gestures towards women and other “masculine” behavior that has been glorified by pop culture.

“We can’t laugh it off making the same old excuses,” says a voiceover as a father shrugs off his son wrestling with another young boy, saying “boys will be boys.”

The ad then cuts to Terry Crews discussing his sexual assault in front of the Senate in 2018 in which he declared, “men need to hold other men accountable.” What then follows are vignettes of men acting as allies to women and standing up against bullying.

“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,” the men’s shaving brand said in a statement on their website.

The video is part of a larger Gillette campaign called “The Best A Man Can Be” in which the men’s brand will “actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man” through a new rollout of ads, images and messaging.

Gillette has also pledged to donate $1 million per year for the next three years to non-profit organizations in the United States that encourage and educate men of all ages to achieve their personal best and become role models for the next generation.

The campaign is the latest in a series of nods to gender equality from parent company Procter & Gamble Co. in response to the #MeToo movement. In December, P&G enlisted the help of ad agency Ogilvy with their “Dress for Respect” campaign with their women’s deodorant brand Secret to create a “smart dress” that would track the number of times that women get groped at nightclubs in Brazil.