There is no such thing as bad news, or so the saying goes. Wearing my PR hat, this is simply not true - I know how long it can take to repair a reputation after it has been damaged by bad news. In the case of the Gillette social purpose ad that has caused such a backlash however, maybe bad news is indeed good news.

There is no doubt the advertisement is a brave corporate statement, aligning Gillette with consumers concerned by #MeToo and to recasting masculinity in a more contemporary light by re-framing its infamous tagline "Gillette, the best a man can get" to "the best a man can be".

I quite liked the ad.  Yes, it could have been a bit more subtle, but the male behaviour I saw in the advertisement rang true for me.  I do wonder which men are 'raging' about it - are they, dare I say, largely middle-aged and well off?

Mark Ritson, whose opinions I respect, was very vocal in his dislike of the ad but one point he made regarded the lack of razors in the ad - unlike the Nike Nick Kapaernick ad where lots of Nike clothing appeared - did stand out.  

Because in the days following the ads release, I spotted masses of Gilette razor adds across London. Liverpool St Station alone is plastered with posters talking about reducing irritation with a Gillette shave. 

So there must have been a strategy to support the social purpose ad with a product push. And by all accounts, despite Ritson's predictions of a backlash in sales, the figures are looking good. Gillette may well have the last word when they show that grooming sales have risen against a recent trend of declining interest in razors.