Print Advertising Analysis

Josh Miller

English 101-5:30

Dr. Sonia Begert

XX November 2015

A Cut Above the Rest 

Shaving has been around for a millennia. Ancient Egyptians used sea shells and oils in order to remove not just facial hair, but body hair as well. It wasn't too hard to convince Egyptians to remove hair, since living in an area in which temperatures were sweltering hot  necessitated shedding any additional hair or clothing along with being popular among the Pharaohs. Since then, the use of such crude instruments  has evolved and so has it's advertising. Today, many men make the decision or are required to shave everyday and the choices are numerous and the competition between companies is fierce. 

At the beginning of the 1900s, men were starting to transition from regularly going to a barber to get a shave, to staying at home and using razor blades themselves. At the time there were only two types of razors on the market. The first one is the straight razor, also known as an open razor or cut-throat razor. These razors require a delicate hand and a lot patients to use. Many men would often cut themselves when first using them, resulting in frustration and many pints of blood going down the sink drain. The other type of razor on the market was the safety razor. This razor has a head in which either a singular blade or a double edge blade would be placed in the receiver and then the head would be tighten down on the blade. By having a head on the razor, this created a barrier for a man’s face, thus the term safety razor. Many men would use either one or both depending on their preferences. 

At the time of the major industrialization throughout the world, print advertising became  the preferred method of selling goods to men and women rather than through word of mouth. Advertisers would have to get creative in order to sell their products and one way to do this was to make the advertisement humorous. 

Looking at the advertisement to the left, Figure 1,  this is a perfect example of a company using humor and satire to sell their product.  This is a print advertisement from 1905 for Gillette safety razors. This ad  features a smiling, happy baby with shaving cream on his face in the form of a beard, holding a safety razor in his right hand. The ad features the words, “Begin Early” and “Shave Yourself,” indicating that the Gillette company was targeting men, both young and old, with this humorous ad. By featuring a baby in the advertisement, the company is implying several things. First, shaving is no longer restricted to professionals and with it’s razors, shaving with a Gillette safety razor is so safe and easy that an infant could do it. Additionally, they are implying that their razor blades are so safe that a baby can handle them without hurting himself. The infant is implied to be male due to the nature of the ad itself. The background is of title wall, indicating that the baby is in the bathroom where men shave. The baby is dressed in classic turn of the century garments, including a bonnet on his head. Lastly, the ad is telling men that with these particular blades, there is no need for stropping or honing. Stropping and honing are ways to sharpen the blade of a straight razor. By eliminating the need to constantly re-sharpen a blade, the clear choice is the Gillette safety razor. 

In the years since this ad was placed, men have continued to shave and many technologies for shaving had begun to emerge. By the 1930s, the electric razor was just starting to emerge as an alternative for traditional razors, straight or safety.  Using an electric razor was far easier for a man to shave with, however, many men began to experience severe razor burn with these electric razors, as the heads wouldn’t need to be replaced nearly as often and one could easily forget to replace them. Also, electric razors were just as portable as their counterparts and many men began using them while driving or upon arrival at work. The electric razor did not provide the same quality of shave as its’ counterparts, but it was good enough for everyday use. Upon that time, the straight razor was once again relegated to use by specialist barbers and began to lose their popularity. As technology began to surge for other inventions, so did the razor industry.

The advent of the exchangeable cartridge razor in the 1960s, men now had several choices of razors in which to shave with. These cartridge razors were cheap and were quite easy to shave with, allowing men to achieve that once forgotten “baby smooth face.” Through the years, disposable razors began to lead the way as the preferred method for men to shave with. The two companies that were leading the pack were Gillette and Schick. These two companies have been competitors since their inception and continue to do so, although Gillette is leading sales globally. One product the Schick has recently release is the Hydro, a razor which was meant to compete with the Gillette Fusion.

The Schick Hydro comes in a variety of styles, including a 3-blade cartridge to a 5-bladed cartridge. In Figure 2, Schick is seen as advertising the Hydro 3. This ad features two men,  apparent boxers, with one being punched in the face and the other man’s glove transitioning into a glove of water. The background is very nondescript. Schick does this to keep the viewers attention to the action that is happening in the foreground. The phrase, “Full contact hydration,” and the resulting punch exploding into water gives the viewer the impression that by using this razor, a blast of moisture will rush onto your face. The  ad attempts to back this claim up by showing how much moisturizer has been added to the moisture strip. Additionally, Schick demonstrates their claim that their blades are better because of the angle in which the blades run along the face. By using the razor to “shave” away the background further expounds on Schick’s claim that their razors are so strong that they can reveal what’s underneath your skin in order to soothe your facial area. Their tagline, “Free your skin,” indicates that the use of the razor will free you and your face from symptoms of severe dry skin.

Schick and Gillette have been using humorous and, sometimes, aggressive advertising in order to sell their products. Today, many men choose between a straight razor, a safety razor, an exchangeable cartridge, or an electric razor in order to shave. No one brand is better than the other, just one product may have something the other does not have and then it comes down to preference and price. By using choice wording and a little humor to their ads, such as Dollar Shave Club with it’s very humorous video ads, or Gillette and Schick using both print and video ads, men will continue to shave for many years to come.