Company That Stood Up to Gillette Announces Sales Explosion, Big Charitable Donation
Egard Watch Co. says that thanks to a spike in sales following the company’s riposte to Gillette’s “toxic masculinity” ad, it is now donating to a group that supports veterans.
“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 this week! We hope to continue making numerous donations year round. Thank you all for giving us an opportunity to give back,” reads a note on the company’s website.
On Tuesday, the site said many watches were back-ordered due to demand, Adweek reported. That information was no longer on the site as of Wednesday.
The Bob Woodruff Foundation supports activities for veterans and is named for ABC journalist Bob Woodruff.
As reported by The Western Journal, Egard Watch CEO Ilan Srulovicz released a video on YouTube that responds to a Gillette ad that tars all men with the brush of “toxic masculinity.” As of Wednesday, the Egard video had almost 2.2 million views.
Srulovicz also wrote an Op-Ed for The Western Journal in which he explained that the video was his personal response to the Gillette ad.
He expanded upon that in an interview with The Daily Wire.
“I did the commercial completely on my own because I didn’t get support necessarily from the people around me,” Srulovicz said. “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?'”
He said he was urged to release the ad anonymously.
“Releasing it anonymously felt like an action out of fear, not out of love,” Srulovicz said. “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 OK. This type of message is good.'”
When asked if this was not a subtle marketing ploy, he disagreed.
“I actually expected a negative response, not a positive one. So I didn’t expect this to help my company necessarily,” he said.
Hmmmm looks as if @Target is getting rid of their junk! Looks as if @Gillette ad is really backfiring. Just watched an awesome ad from @EgardWatchCo , I would rather buy a million Egard watches than anything with @Gillette name on it. #TrashVsClass #Zero2Hero #GilletteVsEgard pic.twitter.com/fBAB1fC4eb
— Amy Donaldson (@Dajh23) January 21, 2019
Hey Gillette, here’s how real Men should be!!!#boycotgillette https://t.co/W0F0DcBD4M
— James Earl (@jearl007) January 22, 2019
In his Op-Ed, Srulovicz said that the battle of the sexes has become a competition that’s hurting society.
“Masculinity can be a beautiful thing, just like femininity. We need to start celebrating each other, not tearing each other down,” he wrote.
“I also feel that suffering needs to stop being a competition. It shouldn’t be ‘women vs. men.’ There are areas where men have it terrible in society. It’s OK to look at those areas and acknowledge it, while also understanding that women have it terrible in other aspects of society. Neither one has to dismiss the other,” he said.
Srulovicz struck a chord with Washington Examiner contributor Suzanne Venker, who wrote in an opinion piece Tuesday that the Gillette ad is the logical extension of a war on men that has been raging for years.
Venker wrote that “for the past half-century feminists and their ilk have insisted on pitting men and women against each other in a relentless game of one-upmanship, and they’ve been very successful. Rest assured that the entity behind the Gillette ad is the same entity that believes ‘the future is female.’ Men need to change, they say. Since women have officially become more like men, it’s men’s turn to become more like women. The goal is interchangeability.
“As if that were possible. As if that’s what people want. As if that’s right and fair and good when in reality it amounts to trying to rip our biology out of us. I suspect Mother Nature will have something to say about that.
“During the Super Bowl, viewers will have the unfortunate experience of watching the Gillette ad again. How many times, I don’t know, but one is bad enough. The moment you see it, grab your smartphone, go to YouTube (and) find the Egard ad, so you’re reminded of just how beautiful and wonderful and necessary men are — and then look at the number of thumbs-up ratings to see how many people know it. You’ll feel better instantaneously.”
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