Last week, Gillette released an ad smearing one half of the population as they skewered men for what they called “toxic masculinity”.
It was not well received.
But then came the Egard Watch Co and their CEO and Founder Ilan Srulovicz.
Srulovicz decided the Gillette ad was way out of line and he wanted to make his own ad celebrating the great things done by men.
He created and funded the ad entirely by himself.
You can watch it here (please do):
And now the results are in and the response has been through the roof! Â
Through the roof positive, that is!
People love the ad and it's lead to an explosion in sales for the Egard Watch Co.!
Well done Mr. Srulovicz, that's how it's supposed to work!
Not only that but the response and sales have been so strong that the company is donating $10,000 to the Bob Woodruff Foundation For Veterans in response!
The story just gets better and better!
As they posted on their website:
The positive response to our message has allowed us to start donating to charities! We will be donating $10,000 USD To the Bob Woodruff Foundation for veterans this week! We hope to continue making numerous donations year round. Thank you all for giving us an opportunity to give back.
Here's more, from the Daily Wire:
On Tuesday, Egard Watch Company released an advertisement on YouTube in response to Gillette’s controversial ad regarding alleged "toxic masculinity."
The video features footage of men in various situations — from fighting fires to hugging their children — while the company’s founder, Ilan Srulovicz, narrates. The footage and narration are accompanied by sobering statistics relating to men.
"What is a man?" Srulovicz asks as a fireman carries a child from a burning building. "Is a man brave?" The on-screen text reads: "Men account for 93% of workplace fatalities." The number comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
"Is a man a hero? Is a man a protector? Is a man vulnerable? Is a man disposable? Is a man broken? Is a man trying?"
As each of the above questions are asked, the following statistics are shown on the screen:
Men comprise over 97% of war fatalities. (U.S. Department of Defense)
79% of all homicide victims are male. (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Nearly half of fathers without any visitation rights still financially support their children. (U.S. Census Bureau)
Men account for 80% of all suicide victims. (World Health Organization)
75% of single homeless people are men. (National Coalition for the Homeless)
"We see the good in men," Srulovicz concludes.
Although the company’s YouTube channel has only 5,500 subscribers, the video has been watched more than 766,000 times, and features a 64:1 "like" to "dislike" ratio as of publication.
The Daily Wire spoke with Ilan Srulovicz about his YouTube video, as well as Gillette’s controversial advertisement:
DW: What was your response to the Gillette commercial?
SRULOVICZ: If I’m being honest, my initial response from a visceral standpoint was a negative one. Whether it’s justified or not, I felt a little bit offended. I felt like it painted with too broad a brush. At the same time, I also understood what they were trying to say. I just don’t think it was the right way to say it.
I think that there’s a very strong movement in society that’s very pervasive, and from an advertising perspective, I can see how Gillette felt like that was the right move — that’s the ongoing narrative.
I’m absolutely for addressing issues like sexual assault and bullying, and I think the unfortunate thing that the Gillette ad seems to miss is that most guys feel the same way.
DW: What drove you to make your own commercial addressing this issue?
SRULOVICZ: I did the commercial completely on my own because I didn’t get support necessarily from the people around me. They were a little bit worried that a message that was so contrary to Gillette’s message would not be well received. I think they were just trying to protect me. I think they believe in the message of the commercial, but I think they were just trying to say, "Is it worth the risk to put your company behind this message?"
Srulovicz said that he was at one point being urged to do the video anonymously, but that a quote pushed him to release it as a company advertisement: "There are only two places actions can come from — they’re either going to come from fear or they’re going to come from love."
SRULOVICZ: Releasing it anonymously felt like an action out of fear, not out of love. Putting something I’ve built and something that means so much to me behind this video would be an action out of love. So, I decided to go in that direction. I also thought that an anonymous video wouldn’t have the same impact as a company saying, "This type of message is okay. This type of message is good."
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