The Egard Watch Company has a response to Gillette’s notorious ad berating “toxic masculinity” — “masculinity can be beautiful.”
Company founder Ilan Srulovicz told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he just can’t understand what Gillette is up to with the ad that he says paints all men with a “broad brush.”
The Egard ad celebrates masculinity against the backdrop of men doing heroic things like fighting fires.
“There’s been a movement in society I feel that’s just been painting men with a broad bush,” he told Fox, calling that “a pervasive narrative in society that’s not helping anyone.” (RELATED: Gillette Uses New Ad To Lecture Men On ‘Toxic Masculinity’)
“You know, for a company like Gillette to open up a commercial with a term like ‘toxic masculinity,’ I just don’t feel like masculinity is toxic,” insists Srulovicz, adding, “I think masculinity can be beautiful,” he said.
Srulovicz told Fox that he put the ad together against the advice of some of his friends and employees whom he said demonstrated “a lot of fear,” suggesting the “political climate” meant “now is not the right time” to refute Gillette’s promise. But he thought he had to do something.
Egard Watch Company founder Ilan Srulovicz talks to “Fox & Friends” about Gillette “toxic masculinity” ad, Jan. 21, 2019. Fox News screenshot.
“You can look at what Gillette did, which is take the minority, the worst men and say, ‘Okay some men aren’t like this.’ But some is not enough,” he said, “… the overwhelming majority of men who are not like that.” (RELATED: Princeton Seeks To Restrain Men And Their ‘Toxic Masculinity’)
Gillette reworked its well-known slogan “The best a man can get” and politicized it to “The best men can be.” The ad premiered around the same time as the release of a report from The American Psychological Association that fretted over “harmful traditional masculinity.”
The ad began airing last week and almost immediately had a polarizing effect, with some admiring its message and others furious that the shaving company would suggest that “toxic masculinity” defines men today. The concept has become a cause célèbre within academia, with males student forming squads to identify alleged sources of “toxic masculinity.”