Are Americans growing tired of woke companies and brands? The Daily Wire thinks so. Witness this amazing commercial for Jeremy’s Razors — a non-woke alternative to shaving products from Harry’s and Gillette.
Note: If you are looking for the new commercial for Jeremy’s Chocolate — Jeremy’s response to woke Hershey’s hiring a trans-activist to represent the accomplishments of women on International Woman’s Day — then this is the article you want: Candy culture wars: Hershey’s hires trans-rights activist for International Women’s Day. Enjoy!
After shaving company Harry’s pulled $80,000 worth of advertising from the conservative news website The Daily Wire over conservative comments made by conservative hosts (specifically, a two-year-old discussion between show host Michael Knowles and conservative author Candace Owens about whether gender dysphoria is a mental illness), Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing knew “at that very moment” that he had to launch a razor company.
Why? Because Harry’s, like so many politically-correct brands today, did not simply pull its ads. In a very public and grandiose display of virtue signaling (is there any other kind?), the company condemned the views expressed on Knowles’ show as “inexcusable” and touted a grave “values misalignment” with The Daily Wire in the wake of its exit.
For Boreing, a man who had grown tired of seeing companies like Harry’s attempt to cancel conservative media for the heinous crime of, well, being conservative, it was the final straw. He decided, “Why don’t we give Harry’s a bad day, and give conservatives a place where they can spend their money, get a good shave, and give their money to someone who doesn’t openly hate them and repudiate them every time some two-person Twitter account calls them names.”
(The Twitter account that drew Harry’s attention to the aging video clip belonged to an “influencer” with precisely two followers.)
Below: The triggered Twitter user’s tweet that started it all, and Harry’s response.
Fast-forward to March 2022. Now, almost a year after Harry’s withdrew its ads, The Daily Wire has launched its new razors alongside a scathingly funny four-minute web ad that pulls no punches against its PC competitors.
The ad opens with “god king” Boreing burning rubber to work in an electric-blue McLaren. After nearly running over an employee in the parking lot, he exits the car and asks: “Do you remember when there were only two genders, and only one and a half of them had to shave their mustaches?”
And that’s only the warmup.
“If you’ve had enough of the woke bullshit,” Boreing intones as he whips out a flame thrower and torches two pedestals piled high with his competitors’ razors, “and you’re tired of paying companies like Harry’s and Gillette to hate you, then buy my new razor instead.”
Below: Jeremy’s Razors: The Greatest Commercial Ever.
Besides flame throwers, the ad features hot cars, sexy women; a shirtless, sculpted Adonis (“That’s the most homoerotic moment you’ll ever get from a Jeremy’s Razors commercial,” Boreing deadpans), and more clever quips than an overcaffeinated Dennis Miller as it deftly positions Jeremy’s as the razor of choice for manly men — cowboys, firefighters, and “those guys who shot Osama bin Laden.”
As funny as the ad is, however, it’s not all over-the-top humor.
“Our country is in trouble,” Boreing warns as the commercial draws to a close. “Conservatives are being canceled by Hollywood, the media, universities — and now, Harry’s Razors. Stop giving your money to woke corporations who don’t think you deserve their product. Give it to me instead,” he concludes as a giant banner emblazoned with his image and the words “Shut Up and Shave” unfurls from the ceiling.
Is Jeremy’s Razors ad “the greatest commercial ever”?
No, of course not — but that’s part of the joke. What this commercial is is a good time — not to mention a shrewd business move in a world where brands in every category are working so feverishly to out-woke one another.
As Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro says in this video (“The Daily Wire is Now Making Razors. Here’s Why”): “You can boycott Gillette, you can boycott Harry’s, but if there’s no other place to put your money, how are you going to shave in the morning? And so that means that you still need a razor, so we’re giving people a place to go. But I think that it also is an attempt to push these companies into a realization . . . that if you alienate more than half of your audience, there will be competitors who will rise to smack you directly in the face, and I think that’s what this is really about.”
Boreing elaborates, “All of these companies think that they can bifurcate the culture without bifurcating the economy. What I mean by that is, they think they can essentially push conservatives to the side culturally, but because conservatives have no alternatives economically, they’ll still have to give them — the woke corporations — their money . . . And for that reason, they pay no price for deliberately alienating 50 percent of their audience.”
Boreing says he wants to create a price. “I want to create an actual penalty by creating a market around the disenfranchised conservative buyer. Not just because I want to see the country further Balkanize or split apart, but because I believe in the long run, the only way to change the behavior of these big companies is to actually incentivize them with market forces into having to come compete for our business again.”
What’s more, Boreing says he hopes that Jeremy’s Razors will inspire other conservatives to get back into the business of creating innovative companies and products that will once again give a voice to traditional American values.
Based on response to the video, he may just succeed. Posted to YouTube on March 22, the ad became an instant viral hit, amassing nearly 10 million views in its first seven days. Viewer comments are enthusiastically positive, with many citing the sharp writing and others celebrating the ad’s all-American, rebel spirit. Even self-described liberals say they find the ad hilarious.
The Daily Wire’s ‘Jeremy’s Razors’ commercial: A shot heard round the world
Like a musket blast in the night, this commercial for Jeremy’s Razors punches through the clutter with high production values, witty writing, and great visual gags that elevate it to heights seldom seen in the ad world. (In this way, it one-ups DollarShaveClub’s “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” debut commercial and reminds me of the excellent extended-length web commercials for Poo-Pourri featuring Bethany Woodruff.)
But, let’s be clear: the primary goal of this commercial is not to sell shaving razors. It’s to send a message — to disaffected Americans who are tired of supporting virtue-signaling companies and brands, and to those same companies who up until now have suffered zero consequences for alienating half their audience.
Based on those criteria, this ad looks to be a smashing success. If The Daily Wire happens to sell some razors in the process, then so much the better.
Which I suspect it will, as politically right-leaning Americans and even independents begin to discover and embrace this new shaving alternative.
After all, who nowadays could resist the idea of a razor that’s just a razor? Or an ad that’s just an ad — not some “brand-purpose” propaganda piece created by woke, young liberals on Madison Avenue?
Says Shapiro: “You don’t have to be right-wing to buy a Jeremy’s Razor. You just have to not be a woke jackass. As long as you’re not a woke jackass and you just want to shave, then you just get a razor and shave, and we will leave you alone.”
Something tells me that’s all most Americans have wanted all along.
Cranky Ad Review rating: Five stars out of five.
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OMG! That was great! Thank you. Epic commercial. We need way more of this.
Yes we do, B.Y. Thanks for reading!
As far as commercial advertising goes, performing solo fellatio would have been less narcissistic.
But that’s a lot of the point, Eric. This ad has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, and it’s all the funnier for it.
Agree. Like the Jeremy’s Razor commercial. The hot babes don’t hurt. Will give the razor a try. I tried Harry’s a year ago and thought they were over-priced and just average at best.
Let us know how it goes with the Jeremy’s razor. I think this — frankly extraordinary — move by The Daily Wire has the potential to provide a real wake-up call to a lot of brands.
Thanks for your comment.
Cranky Creative… I think you mean a woke-up call….
Excellent points! I suspect you are reading the tea leaves correctly, I’ve certainly had bout nuff. For absurdity, recent LL Bean catalogs will provide plenty .
Hi, Cap’n! Yes, indeed. After so many years of brands pushing non-product-related agendas on us — climate change, BLM, LGBTQ, etc., etc. — it was inevitable that we would eventually see pushback. Hence the Jeremy’s tagline, “Shut Up and Shave.”
Good to hear from you!