Reddit Still Hates That GilletteLabs Father-Son Commercial - Here's Why

The father-and-son GilletteLabs commercial from 2023 has made a lasting impact on its viewers, and a glance at Reddit shows it's not an entirely positive one. The 30-second ad depicts a video call between a father and son, played by real-life father-and-son TikTok team Joe and Frank Mele. The father is initially insulted by the fact that his son intends to shave quickly, viewing the speed of the act as disrespectful. However, once his son explains the concept of the GilletteLabs razor he's using, the father changes his mind and wants to try the product himself. At the end of the clip, the two bump fists across a split screen. 

The reasons Redditors dislike the ad are many and varied. Some have expressed their distaste for the over-the-top delivery of certain lines, like the father's exaggerated "GilletteLabs?" Redditor u/doctorhino wrote, "He sounds like he is about to go down there and crack some skulls for corrupting his son. Then within seconds he loves them."

"Gamechanger," another line from the dad character, also has its haters. "When he says that I get irrationally furious," u/mrmiracle opined. Another Redditor pointed out the line "respect the process," a third one from the same character. Meanwhile, other folks expressed annoyance over the backward baseball cap the son wears while shaving.

One particular source of Reddit's ire over the GilletteLabs ad seems to be the fact that Joe and Frank Mele come from a TikTok content creator background. For some, this alone is a reason for distaste. "I saw the words 'tiktok' and my heart shrunk two sizes," u/OkieFanoki wrote. "Tik tok 'stars'. Cringe," u/apollo20171 commented. (Using TikTokers in commercials seems to be a growing trend. For example, TikTok star Charli D'Amelio appeared in a Grammys Dunkin' commercial with Ben Affleck.)

Others initially assumed the father was played by a well-known athlete acting as Gillette's spokesperson and were dismayed to find out the truth. "I thought this was some retired pro athlete and his son. I didn't realize how much worse it actually was," u/-Shank- wrote.   

At the end of the day, much of the hate Reddit directs toward the ad seems to stem from finding it simply too obnoxious. "So garbage," u/whatsqwerty wrote. "Trying to define the American male but they're like off by half a century at least."