Gillette Recruits Women to Encourage Male Body Hair Styling

Gillette, the male shave and grooming brand from P&G, announced a partnership with three female celebrities: Kate Upton, Hannah Simone and Genesis Rodriguez – the first time ever the brand has partnered with female spokespeople to spearhead an integrated marketing campaign. Upton, Simone and Rodriguez will share the opinions of women across the country to help men understand what women prefer when it comes to men’s body hair styling as the brand showcases styling tools to get the job done.

Men of all ages agree that body styling is a trend on the rise, with 56% of men interviewed saying that they style their bodies more often now than in the past. The top reasons to style body hair were the same for both men and women, with hygiene coming out on top and making the most out of intimate times a close second. Perhaps the best news for both sexes is that men are open to input from the women in their lives, with 69% saying that women influence how they style their body hair. Research also shows that 74% of women think that guys should definitely style areas of their bodies, but preferences around which areas and how they should be styled vary.

The women were selected to act as spokespeople for a campaign designed to share the male body hair styling opinions of women everywhere based on a Gillette-sponsored survey. All three will appear in an integrated marketing campaign, including print ads, a television ad helmed by film director Ruben Fleischer, digital media and public relations, with activities kicking off in March 2013. The campaign leads up to a first-ever live body hair styling event on April 18, 2013. The event will stream live online and feature the three women taking questions and sharing their opinions on male body hair styling.

“Body hair styling is a huge and growing category, and our research shows that it’s an area of concern for both men and women,” said John Grim, brand manager, Gillette. “To better delight our men, we’ve been working to provide new insight into what women have to say in the matter. Women have spoken, and overall they overwhelmingly prefer men who style their body hair. Specific preferences on how women like a man’s body styled vary quite a bit. It’s up to men to decide what to do and up to us to provide the right tool for the job. Whatever look he or she wants, Fusion ProGlide Styler delivers with the combination of trimming, shaving, and edging in one precision tool.”

“Women have been thinking about their own body hair for ages, so it’s only natural that they have opinions on male body hair as well,” said Rodriguez. “I'm glad Gillette has asked us to share those opinions with the men of the world; they deserve to know.”

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