Product type Safety razors Markets Worldwide Market World Parent organization Procter & Gamble | Owner Procter & Gamble Previous owners The Gillette Company Founded 28 September 1901 | |
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Country Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Introduced September 28, 1901; 115 years ago (1901-09-28) Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, United States Subsidiaries Duracell International Inc., Gillette Czech S.r.o. Profiles |
Polo red aftershave first use a vintage 1959 gillette red tip razor a nice friday night shave
Gillette is a brand of men's safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Contents
- Polo red aftershave first use a vintage 1959 gillette red tip razor a nice friday night shave
- Gillette fusion proglide flexball razor shaving gel limited edition unboxing
- Double edged safety razors
- Discontinued products
- Current products
- Criticism
- Net worth
- Promotions
- In popular culture
- Canadian headquarters
- References
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gillette Company, a supplier of products under various brands until that company merged into P&G in 2005. The Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer.
Under the leadership of Colman M. Mockler Jr. as CEO from 1975–91, the company was the target of three takeover attempts, from Ronald Perelman and Coniston Partners. On October 1, 2005, Procter & Gamble finalized its merger with the Gillette Company.
The Gillette Company's assets were incorporated into a P&G unit known internally as "Global Gillette". In July 2007, Global Gillette was dissolved and incorporated into Procter & Gamble's other two main divisions, Procter & Gamble Beauty and Procter & Gamble Household Care. Gillette's brands and products were divided between the two accordingly. The Gillette R&D center in Boston, Massachusetts as, and the Gillette South Boston Manufacturing Center (known as "Gillette World Shaving Headquarters"), still exist as functional working locations under the Procter & Gamble-owned Gillette brand name. Gillette's subsidiaries Braun and Oral-B, among others, have also been retained by P&G.
Gillette fusion proglide flexball razor shaving gel limited edition unboxing
Double-edged safety razors
The first safety razor using the new disposable blade went on sale in 1903. Gillette maintained a limited range of models of this new type razor until 1921 when the original Gillette patent expired. In anticipation of the event, Gillette introduced a redesigned razor and offered it at a variety of prices in different cases and finishes, including the long running “aristocrat". Gillette continued to sell the original razor but instead of pricing it at $5, it was priced at $1, making a Gillette razor truly affordable to every man regardless of economic class. In 1932 the Gillette Blue Blade, so-named because it was dipped in blue lacquer, was introduced. It became one of the most recognizable blades in the world. In 1934 the "Twist to Open" (TTO) design, was intuitionistic. It featured butterfly-like doors that made blade changing much easier than it had been, wherein the razor head had to be detached from the handle.
Razor handles continued to advance to allow consumer to achieve a closer shave. In 1947, the new "Super Speed" model, also a TTO design, was introduced. This was updated in 1955, with different versions being produced to shave more closely—the degree of closeness being marked by the color of the handle tip.
In 1955, the first "adjustable" razor was produced. This allowed for an adjustment of the blade to increase the closeness of the shave. The model, in various versions, remained in production until 1988.
The Super Speed razor was again redesigned in 1966 and given a black resin coated metal handle. It remained in production until 1988. A companion model, "The Knack", with a longer plastic handle, was produced from 1966 to 1975. In Europe, the Knack was sold as "Slim Twist" and "G2000" from 1978 to 1988, a later version known as "G1000" was made in England and available until 1998. A modern version of the Tech, with a plastic thin handle, is still produced and sold in several countries under the names 7 O'clock, Gillette, Nacet, Minora, Rubie and Economica.
Discontinued products
Current products
Criticism
The desire to release ever more expensive products, each claiming to be the best ever, has led Gillette to make disputed claims for its products. In 2005, an injunction was brought by rival Wilkinson Sword which was granted by the Connecticut District Court which determined that Gillette's claims were both "unsubstantiated and inaccurate" and that the product demonstrations in Gillette's advertising were "greatly exaggerated" and "literally false". While advertising in the United States had to be rewritten, the court's ruling does not apply in other countries.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) shaving products have been under investigation by the UK Office of Fair Trading as part of an inquiry into alleged collusion between manufacturers and retailers in setting prices. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, an industry insider claimed that the Fusion range of blades cost only £0.05 each to manufacture, yet sold for up to £2.43: a mark-up price of more than 4,750%.
Gillette was fined by Autorité de la concurrence in France in 2016 for price-fixing on personal hygiene products.
Net worth
In 1999, Gillette, as a company, was worth US$43 billion, and it was estimated that the brand value of Gillette was worth US$16 billion. This equated to 37% of the company's value, which was the same as DaimlerChrysler, one of the world's largest car manufacturers at the time.
Promotions
Gillette has a long history of promotions for its products, especially towards young men. Current promotions include sponsorship of sports events such as Major League Baseball (since the 1940s, when it was the only sponsor for World Series television broadcasts) and the England national rugby league team, along with the Rugby League Four Nations. Gillette ships a razor to males in the United States around the time of their 18th birthday; as of 2010 Gillette has been sending the Fusion ProGlide. Athletes such as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Shoaib Malik, Derek Jeter, Thierry Henry, Kenan Sofuoglu, Park Ji-Sung, Rahul Dravid, and Michael Clarke are sponsored by the company.
There were calls to boycott Gillette products given their association with Thierry Henry, after a handball by Henry went undetected by referees and allowed France to knock Ireland out of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Marketing experts have highlighted "the curse of Gillette", given the mishaps that happen to sports stars associated with the brand.
In popular culture
Canadian headquarters
Until the late 1980s, Gillette Canada's headquarters were in the Montreal suburb of Mont-Royal, Quebec until they moved west to another Montreal suburb in Kirkland. The Kirkland offices were closed in 1999 and Gillette Canada moved to Mississauga, Ontario, a Toronto suburb following the Gillette acquisition of Duracell. The Mississauga offices were closed in 2005-06 after Procter & Gamble acquired Gillette, and Gillette's Canadian headquarters are located in downtown Toronto with parent Procter & Gamble on Yonge St.