The transgender community has made great strides in recent years to earn recognition and respect, but it remains largely disregarded. Representation in popular culture and entertainment is rare, and positive representation even more so. Everyone is used to seeing the classic square-jawed cisgender man star in shaving commercials, but they've never seen a transgender man star in a film about shaving. A man’s first shave is a rite of passage. For over a century, Gillette has been a part of that moment. But now it's time we celebrated every man, no matter when or how they get to that moment.

In this film, we follow the stories of four transgender men as they take an important first step of becoming a man. Each man’s journey is unique – some fraught with fear, others surrounded by the people they love, another alone without the support of friends and family. Through this we see that each is united by the joy and pride of having the opportunity to take that timeless rite of passage: shaving.

Influencers hold huge power within the transgender community providing insights and guidance on a range of topics related to transitioning. Understanding this, we partnered with key influencers to launch the First Shave films to their followers on the platforms – Facebook and Instagram – most frequented by those seeking advice. But we knew that today’s transgender voices reach well beyond their immediate community and the films spread reaching Gen Z and Millennials who are open to new, more open, alternative definitions of “the best a man can get”.

We went to the homes of transgender men to witness them shave for the first time. We sat with their families, listened to their stories and created a powerful set of films that celebrated their first shaves. The films were then offered to LGBTQ film festivals providing them with an opportunity to feature content that celebrates a segment of the population that is far too often ignored. A microsite housed a content series that included a short documentary, the individual stories of each man, and a how-to shaving video starring one of our heroes.

In the first five days First Shave garnered over 15.8 million impressions from both mainstream national and LGBTQ-specific outlets with media placements spanning the globe putting us on pace to achieve over 2 billion impressions.

Media portrayals of men have come a long way in the last decade, but they still focus heavily on cisgender stereotypes. Men who don’t conform to traditional definitions of manhood rarely see themselves in advertising and, if they do, it tends to focus on gay men. Transgender men, those who fight the hardest to become men, are pushed to the sidelines. While the transgender community has made great strides in recent years to earn recognition and respect, it remains largely marginalized. Representation in popular culture and entertainment is rare, and positive representation even more so. As a leading male grooming brand, we saw an opportunity to broaden the definition what it means to be a man and give new meaning to the iconic tagline “The Best A Man Can Get”.