Gillette’s recent commercial, “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be,” released on Jan. 16 reached almost 1.2 million dislikes on YouTube and was swarmed with almost 400 thousand hate comments in the span of a week. This commercial promotes the idea that all men are not currently being the best that they could be.

There is a slew of issues wrong with Gillette’s commercial, the first being that it portrays men in a mostly negative light. It shows instances of bullying, harassment, and excuses for behavior and categorizes all men into these situations: all men are harassers. All men are bullies. All men make up excuses for their wrong behavior. They question masculinity and attempt to define it in a new way, such as standing up to other men that are in the wrong. This is conveyed when a man is shown harassing a girl. However, it displayed the harassment as a masculine trait as well leading to a confusing and wishy-washy stance on the issue. The company released a statement citing that their goal was to spark conversation about the issue, but this only resulted in more problems being created.

The commercial displays faults in common phrases such as “boys will be boys,” through a scene in which various men behind barbecue grills at a family cookout repeat the saying as two boys fight, but, they are also enforcing the stereotype that harassment and bullying are common among all men and require propaganda to change. They come across as using their platform with the mindset that all men would be lost without it due to their “masculine” instincts.

While bringing down men, it manages to do the same for females. There are various instances shown of men calling out other men for harassment as they picture the woman affected just standing there too fragile to stand up for herself. “Men need to hold other men accountable,” the commercial said. “Well, what about women? Are women incapable of speaking up for themselves?”

It has spoiled views on the feminist agenda. Many viewers are labeling it as feminist views when it really is not. In fact, it portrays females as weak creatures and puts down men through misconceptions and stereotypes, the opposite of feminist goals in the first place.

Gillette’s commercial seems like an attempt to do right but in a very wrong way. Maybe next time the company should stick to promoting razors, not “fixing” the male race.