Braun shaver joining Costa and Budweiser…

[Inamuddle36]

According to the Daily Telegraph, a new Brain ad features a topless transmale model with mastectomy scars.

”A model photographed using the The Series X Hybrid Trimmers for men is seen with surgical scars from what appears to be a double mastectomy operation.
Campaigners have claimed the advert breaches the Advertising Standards Authority guidance which warns against “glamourising” or “trivialising” cosmetic surgery.
The ASA in its social responsibility section of its website states: “Marketers should take care not to trivialise the decision to have cosmetic surgery.
“Procedures should always be portrayed as something that requires time and thought and should never be portrayed as ‘safe’, ‘easy’ or ‘risk free’.”
‘Shockingly immoral’Maya Forstater, the executive director of Sex Matters, said: “Promoting the removal of healthy breast tissue is not only shockingly immoral, but against advertising standards guidance to not glamourise or trivialise cosmetic surgery.”

I can’t add the photo because Mumsnet seems it to be a “sensitive image”.

How can it be a 'sensitive' image if it is being used in a bloody advertising campaign. Get a grip Mumsnet.

They just can't help themselves. We can't keep assuming it's woke interns in marketing, the messages must be coming from the top.

I've just seen the picture. I found it very unsettling.

archive.li/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/18/braun-advertises-mens-trimmers-using-trans-model/

Make your own mind up.

Sorry, try this

archive.ph/hiAiJ

It's not telling you it's a sensitive image, it's asking if you want it to be uploaded with the sensitive image settings.

Edit: clarify sentence

I don't use Braun products, I won't be starting.

I doubt this advert will put off their target audience, but it may get.more men looking at the bigger issues I suppose, especially if they have partners that'll point it out.

Beyond the virtue signalling, this is such a weird line for Braun to take. The number of trans men is tiny as it is, and the number of men who'll be influenced by it into buying when they wouldn't otherwise must be in the negatives.

Thanks for flagging this. I need to buy a shaver for my teen son - good to know which company to avoid.

Braun is owned by Procter & Gamble, they have form for this - see the comments in that article about Always, plus there's been stuff on here before about Tampax promotions referring to women as "bleeders" among other things; using Paris Lees in Pantene adverts; a Gillette advert based on a transman's "first shave"; and they've had partnerships with GLAAD in the past. Oh and I think they were also in that Stonewall GRA/self-ID-promoting ad in Metro. No respect for women any more despite us being their biggest customers by far - so I don't buy any of their brands any more (there are lots - as well as the above, Herbal Essences, Ariel, Lenor, Fairy, Olay, Pampers, Oral-B, Bold and various others).

Not sure it bothers me to be honest.

1. I won't notice the scars if you hadn't pointed it out.
2. There is going to be a generation of women with a significant number who have had mastectomies. They still need to earn a living
3. This product does not have a sex specific use... very different from period products which are very much sex specific and males using them just want a euphoria boner. This person really just needs a shave.

I couldn't get worked up about this.

Actually no...

I change my mind. I remember the baby faces. The transwomen on full surgery and beautiful makeup who were the acceptable face of allowing grown men with pot bellies and bad wigs into group changes with teenage girls.

And I think this is the same thing. Transmen being less threatening to women's spaces are going to be used as a wedge, again.

I'm supposed to live and let live. I want to live and let live but not if the consequence is that my daughter needs to deal with the fallout in the long run. Or my son is told his exuberance is feminine so he needs to chop off his balls ...

The trans community needs to sort this out. By default most people don't care what you do with your body. Allowing a movement to use your body to dictate other people's boundaries is just not on.

The first thing that struck me about the image was that it would have been easy to trim a tiny bit off the photo to cut out the scars, so this is not use of a model that happens to have transitioned, but is a deliberate advertisment, either in an attempt to normalise mastectomy, or to appeal to the market of “people who support gender ideology to the point where this will influence them”.

I suspect that market is pretty limited, thus use of the picture is likely to be ideologically driven.

It will be interesting to see how the complaints progress.

The first thing that struck me about the image was that it would have been easy to trim a tiny bit off the photo to cut out the scars, so this is not use of a model that happens to have transitioned, but is a deliberate advertisment,

In fact most images that show the scars are gratuitous as usually the TM is the only person with shirt off, depicted in situations where it makes no sense to have ones top off. If anything it is even more sexist as women are the ones who bare all in situations where being clothed can show power - how many images are there with men in power suits and women in next to nothing?

Images of TW are transgressive when they outline what the person still has, namely the bulge, while images of TM have to show what they chopped off. How sad. If anything I would prefer TM shown in a mirror way- beards and suits, but with breasts bulging out of the suits. But that might actually empower transmen.

(I would assume the facial hair grown as a result of medication on a female would be softer?)

Anyway - it’s such a cliche - every ad campaign seems to have to contain this particular personality type to appear ‘inclusive’ and ‘diverse’. I guess ‘increase your market base) is a bonus here.

I am seeing more of the style of art with lines on the (clothed) chest of females where the scars would sit. It’s horrible. Like a badge of honour. Do they show self harm cuts on arms too? No they don’t.

I have been auditing ads/websites the last few weeks (research). My goodness. It’s hard to find a white male/person over 40/particular minority groups/group of people with a realistic demographic of the country/region. It really is tick box marketing.

Didn’t another shaving company do this before (dad showing his ‘son’ how to shave). The child was obviously female.

For such a small minority, they sure do have over representation.

@PatatiPatatras good points in both your posts.I would just observe

1. the scars are more visible in the actual ad than in the pasted copy above
2. as someone else said, the photo could have been cropped above the scars — so clearly it is intentional to show them
3. how do women (or should I say “people”?) who have had mastectomies due to breast cancer feel when they see such ads, seemingly glamourising the operation?

For such a small minority, they sure do have over representation.

This phenomenon seems particularly prevalent in publishing, to the detriment of quality. Publishers and other book producers are so desperate to have authors in this tiny demographic that they seem to regularly accept work that is decidedly below par.

Though my friend has the same scars, he's not trans, he just had breast cancer, men can get it too!!!

These images infuriate me much more than TW wearing tight dresses with bulges.

The majority of TW retain their genitals whilst TM must undergo risky and unnecessary surgery to remove aspects of themselves to prove their transness. It’s bad enough having the likes of EP or AH posing topless, but what the hell is Braun doing creating a market campaign with yet another subliminal message telling our daughters to hate their bodies.

That ad is despicable and utterly misogynistic. I can only imagine how marketing departments in these global corporations are full of ‘edgy’ young white bro’s being oh so provocative without a single thought about the ethics or implications of their ads.

I'll file this under "Why is it only trans women used to advertise female products, and never trans men to advertise male products".

Lol. Again, this product is not sex specific. Women use shavers. Even on chins...

Get a transman to advertise sports cups used to protect balls à la tampons and bras advertised by some notorious males and you can do your filing.

It's being used to advertise shavers that shave the thick male face stumble.

Thing is even if complaints are upheld, the damage is done, the ads are out there. By the time the ASA decide Braun will say that ad campaign is finished, something something inclusive virtue signal. And Streisand will be wailing away in the background.

Those scars are huge and the pose shows them off to greatest effect. Deliberate choice to use model with massive scars and posed to maximise them I think.

Is it like the transwomen advertising tampons for their lighter flow? I believe the reality is non existent flow?

So does the transman have non existent stubble or do you not believe a minority of women have to reach for male shavers? My friends used to use these for their arms not faces but OK...

Or do you not know when a product is sex specific?

Or you just want to file something? Go ahead. It's the Internet... no skin off my nose.