Stephen Colbert says Gillette’s ad has inspired another company to be ‘woke’

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert found another company looking to tackle toxic masculinity just like Gillette.

Public outrage has grown over a television ad targeting toxic masculinity released by razor company Gillette. And with that, we may already have a winner for the most 2019 sentence of 2019. Stephen Colbert isn’t the type to let a “controversy” like this one go unnoticed so he took some time on The Late Show to address it.

Chances are that by now you’ve seen the one and a half minute long ad from Gillette. The idea behind it is basically that men have a role in stopping bullying and harassment by being decent human beings. In just three days the ad has over 18 million views on YouTube alone.

Well, believe it or not some people took offense to that. On television and social media, there was plenty of backlash from those who don’t want moral lectures from a razor company. They are tired of social commentary and “wokeness” coming from big companies. Others feel personally attacked or thing the male gender is unjustly represented.

The other side of this argument is claiming that anyone bothered by the ad is only outing themselves as perpetrators of the very behavior Gillette is calling out. In the end, it all adds up to a lot of pointless arguing on Twitter and Gillette getting the exact publicity they wanted along with their reasonable request that men pay attention to how they act.

If you’re not the type of person to throw themselves into the middle of this debate or “outrage,” then perhaps you’re the type to sit back and laugh at the situation. If that’s the case then you’ll probably enjoy Stephen Colbert’s bit on the situation:

Colbert may surprise some by not going completely after Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade for his apparent outrage at the commercial. Instead Colbert satirizes the motivation behind Gillette leading what he calls the “woke bandwagon.”

It’s actually a brilliant move by Colbert to take this stance. Typically he spends his night going after President Trump and leading the liberal voice in the media. But at the end of the day Colbert is still a comedian and will go with what he finds funny above all else.

So instead of a bit calling out the angry men upset by the ad Colbert pokes fun at companies trying to get credit for what is ultimately a popular stance on a social issue. Gillette isn’t exactly going out on a limb by calling out bullying and sexual harassment. But it’s leading that bandwagon for IceGuard.

Like a lot of things, this so-called controversy will blow over sooner than later. There are far more important things to worry about. However, the ad and the apparent outrage it caused did make for a nice distraction for those of us a bit exhausted by all the shutdown talk on late night. Be sure to check back in with Last Night On the next time a controversy strikes to see how late night finds the laughs.