Gillette's #MeToo Virality

Almost everyone and anything can go viral in this digital time. However, how do you make your content go viral if there is no exact formula in doing so? Why do certain messages get talked about while others are ignored?

Let's take a look at Gillette's recent campaign!

Firstly, the #MeToo movement went viral in October 2017 as a hashtag on social media to raise awareness on sexual assault and harassment in workplaces. A year after the hashtag went viral, a report from Pew Research Center found that the #MeToo hashtag was used more than 19 million times on Twitter since Alyssa Milano's initial tweet. That's an average of more than 55,000 uses of the hashtag in a single day!

So HOW did Gillette leverage on the #MeToo movement in their recent campaign, making it go viral? By playing on their 30-year tagline "The best a man can get", replacing it with "The best men can be".

The film, We Believe: the Best Men Can Be, went viral with more than 4 million views on YouTube within 48 hours of its release, receiving both praises and backlash from the public. The advertisement starts off by replaying scenes of men and boys behaving badly, harassing women and bullying with the excuse that "boys will be boys". Gillette then challenges men by asking if this is the best a man can get, demonstrating that character can step in to change conditions.

Let's use the 6 principles of contagiousness by Jonah Berger to analyse how Gillette's ad went viral upon release.

Gillette used 3 out of the 6 principles. (Take note that it is not necessary to have all 6 principles for a successful campaign.)

The #MeToo movement has been a hot topic since it started in 2017. Gillette's engagement with this movement to kick-start their campaign triggers immediate word-of-mouth (WOM), creating a conversation within the public. People with opposite views towards the campaign shared their thoughts and started discussions by commenting on the video.

Gillette's message through this advertisement created positive and negative emotions by playing into a new narrative about positive masculinity. There is contentment from viewers who agrees with the message Gillette tried to bring across. As a business selling razors, this campaign represents their attempt to change a global dialogue. On the other hand, masculinity plays a big part in the Gillette brand. This ad forms as a recognition that the new generation is working on changing the idea of masculinity. This in turn creates negative emotions as men's masculinity are being questioned.

The ad is popular because it's real life. It's a message that people could relate to. By creating a narrative out of the #MeToo movement, it allows Gillette to deliver their message more effectively as it is personal and trustworthy. Audiences want to feel a connection with the brand through strong visuals, images and music which Gillette has shown in their film. They were clear on the kind of emotions they wanted to evoke to their audience, giving off an emotional appeal.

This campaign which criticised the masculinity of men have made some Gillette users boycott the brand, causing a drop in sales by $8 million. However, the CEO of Gillette said he does not regret his company's controversial marketing campaign, despite losing some of their loyal customers over it.

With that said, was this marketing campaign by Gillette a success or a failure? No matter the outcome, it certainly did spark the interests of many around the world, making it go viral.