“Okay, billie is like, the unicorn of razors,” says a young woman with a towel wrapped around her head in front of a vanity. So begins the 30 second commercial for billie’s razor brand “built for womankind.” Throughout the ad, different women vocalize positive reviews for the razors, noting that they “sail through” hair, get rid of everything in “one swoop,” and are like “some kind of witchcraft.”
The color pink appears consistently throughout the commercial, composing the initial decorative background, the towel around the first speaker’s hair, various articles of clothing, and the exterior of a house. In a separate ad released on Instagram, billie taps into the misogynistic history of women’s marketing, noting that women’s products are often made by men, colored pink, and priced at higher rates. They lay into the phenomenon of “pink tax,” showing a receipt with a 15% increase on women’s products for “no good reason.” What’s more, the company has garnered praise for actually depicting body hair in their commercials, a stylistic choice which companies such as Gillette and Schick have conventionally avoided.
Overall, billie’s modern, unapologetic, stick-it-to-the-man style of marketing has resulted in notable praise from young audiences, demonstrating the effectiveness of this brand of campaigning in recent years. The Instagram ad alone features comments such as “Idgaf about razors, a temporary solution. But seeing a lady with tummy hair just made me smile. Seeing humans being humans makes ya feel nice” (@stefuhnee90), and “whoever in charge of y’all’s advertising needs a FAT raise” (@pictobrat). However, while their campaigning is progressive with regard to its fixation on equality, its emphasis on razors made especially for women necessitates a belief in clear gender binaries. Thus, while the company capitalizes on contemporary support for social justice marketing, their limitations in the area of gender politics raise the question: will billie’s success stand the test of time?
Everything about billie’s marketing rests on clear, tangible differences between men and women. The top of their website features the phrase “Fact: Women and men shave differently.” They substantiate this claim by stating “We shave 10x the area, navigating more curves and angles.” While this is undoubtedly true, the idea that women collectively should shave more of their body hair is an oft-criticized ideal that has spurred some women to purposefully grow out their hair in response. Billie occupies a curious stance in this controversy, as it can only reap profits by encouraging women to shave their hair. However, this idea contradicts their overall branding of equality and justice for women. While they have included the inclusive qualifier that they will be here, “if ever” you choose to shave, the fact remains that they only benefit when women continue to do so. Furthermore, in repeatedly including the color pink throughout their commercials, featuring dainty bathroom sets and vanities, and adding unicorn emojis in post-editing, they perpetuate an array of feminine stereotypes. Thus, while the company prides itself on against-the-grain marketing by including body hair and denouncing pink tax, its marketing taps into conventional tropes of femininity.
Overall, billie appears to create a space in the market that is emphatically and unapologetically reserved for women. Their strategy is intelligent in certain respects, as it caters to the tendency of modern buyers to reward companies for engaging in activism and social justice. This is exemplified through the branding of companies such as Nike, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, who quickly endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020 in a rush to maintain respect and financial support among young buyers. Similarly, billie capitalizes on the interest of many Gen Z and millennial buyers to increase equality for women. However, its emphasis on a set of clear demarcations between men and women, which cater to an unabashedly pro-feminine market, is not inclusive toward those who do not identify as either man or woman. In a study conducted by Bigeye which included 2,000 participants, half of Gen Z’ers and 56 percent of millennials expressed the belief that traditional gender roles and labels are outdated. Thus, as billie profits off of one aspect of today’s social-justice-oriented society, they dance a fine line in ignoring our increasingly plural and multifaceted conceptions of gender.
Overall, billie’s marketing is positive in several respects. Its inclusion of body hair promotes an authentic style of advertising, and its denouncement of pink tax calls attention to historical inequalities in the pricing of women’s products. However, the company’s engagement with gender tropes and stereotypes has troubling implications on its long-term success as a brand. As younger generations grow increasingly weary of society’s traditional conceptions of gender, it is likely that they will eventually outgrow the binary-enforced marketing employed by billie. While many companies enforce these same conventions, an enterprise that prides itself on progressivism is especially vulnerable to damning accusations of exclusivity.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.