Background:  The 2019 Gillette advertisement ‘We believe: the best men can be’ was released when the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum. The commercial addressed conventional ideas of masculinity and received a lot of public criticism for its message. To examine how advertising affects society’s perception of gender it is essential to develop an understanding of customer responses to this controversial advertisement.    

Purpose:   The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how customers respond to the controversial Gillette advertisement and the reason for this reaction. The study looks to identify the variety of emotions, actions, and cognitive processes displayed by customers by examining comments made by users on the YouTube advertisement video.   

Method:  Using netnography, both a qualitative and quantitative research method, the study examined 2,400 comments from the Gillette advertisement published on YouTube. To find trends and patterns relating to customer responses, these comments are grouped and analyzed thematically. Waller’s proposed response model for controversial advertising serves as the foundation for analysis, with the inclusion of modifications to consider the special features of the YouTube comments.   

Conclusion:  Analyzing the comments on the advertisement indicates a wide range of responses to the Gillette campaign. Commenters expressed disapproval, sarcasm, dislike, and offense. Negative behaviors included plans to boycott Gillette or spread negative word of mouth. There were a few positive comments that expressed positive emotions like approval, liking, and appreciation, but little to no positive actions. A majority of the negative reactions were influenced by perceptions of masculinity, gender constructs within society, political affiliation, as well as perceptions of Gillette’s brand actions. These results offer insightful understandings of the challenges of addressing masculinity and managing the social environments in the context of advertising.