'We Believe: The Best Men Can Be | Gillette (Short Film)' ~ Analysis

  In this advertisement, called “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” by Gillette, there is a large sense of the appeal of the need to nurture for the targeted audience. The audience is men, as the product is directed at men (Gillette shaving products for men), but this advertisement is not only for the general male population, rather, it is mainly directed at fathers, elder brothers, older children in older grades, influential figures or friends as the need to nurture is directed at how men in these positions have the power to shape the attitudes and thinking processes of the younger, more influential generations of young boys. This advertisement mainly uses ethos, more specifically the use of the emotions of guilt, shown through what happens when men don’t stop the destructive, stereotypical actions of younger boys, and fear. Fear from, firstly, showing how men pull the ‘boys will be boys’ card and allow young boys to become violent and disregard the respect that they should show to everyone –  even women. Fear, as well, is shown through the multiple news stories of sexual harassment, stories of bullying shown through clips and the clips showing how destructive stereotypes are shown in everyday life, such as the man disrespecting a woman in a show set while an audience laughs at the act. The need to nurture is especially shown through how, in every real-life story clip, a young boy is shown to be exposed to these destructive and stereotypical-like acts, showing how they are now learning that these actions are acceptable. In a twist, the men, in the end, stop others from carrying out these destructive acts and clips are shown where they stop another man and tell them that it isn’t the right thing to do. Especially in the last scene where a father stops other boys from bullying a young boy in front of his own son, who watches with wide eyes, eyes that are known to learn and grow from experiences. This connects directly to the values of the advertisement and, in theory, the general public of the 21^st century who do not believe the worn-out term ‘boys will be boys’ and, instead, place their values in the unity and equality of people of all genders, ages, nationalities, races and religions. This ad specifically concentrates on how wrong the culturally stereotyped version of men are in this world and, unlike in the past, the images that, historically, show what a ‘man’ should be are not be followed or taught to be followed. The stereotypes shown in the ad are how men should see women as equals, not objects, all men should be images for their kids, whether they are fathers or elder brothers or school seniors or friends, men should see violence as violence, not some sort of play, men should see that they are allowed to express their emotions, not be robots that run on nothing but brute force, men should see that bullying is not accepted, even if the other is so ‘weak’, and men should know that conflicts aren’t solved by violence but, rather, by cooperation and discussion. The context of this ad is the sudden influx of sexual offenses brought up by victims around the world which have taken to the news to a point where the general population has started to look into what else is ‘put under the rug’ due to men around the world stating that men and boys do what they do because ‘boys will be boys’. Because of this, men now feel threatened as, even though they know some of their actions are wrong, the stereotypes are still valued and they feel ‘weak’ if they do not express them or act upon them. That is why this ad aims to tell all men that these stereotypes are wrong and that they need to be taken out of our lives, in other words, teach the younger generations of boys to be different, be ethically stronger and be better than those before them.