Dollar Shave Club, one of the early disruptors of the direct-to-consumer model, is continuing its long-running critique of what it calls “corporate B.S.” in the razor market with a new campaign that both uses and satirises generative AI. Developed with agency partner Too Short for Modeling, the ad employs AI-powered tools to bring to life exaggerated visual ideas, including a skyscraper designed in the shape of a razor and a tongue-in-cheek take on “animal testing” featuring a gorilla shaving, while allowing the team to deliver the work within a production timeframe of just a few weeks.
Unilever acquired the brand for $1 billion in 2016, before selling a 65% stake in Dollar Shave Club’s assets to private-equity firm Nexus Capital Management two years ago. After a period focused on refining its product offering, the brand is now turning its attention back to marketing, launching a major advertising push this week. The centrepiece is a playful 60-second film, “We Put Our Money Where It Matters”, which uses AI-generated elements to satirise both the technology itself and broader tropes of the men’s grooming industry.
“What separates Dollar Shave Club from the competition is the voice, the irreverence—the rebel-jester mentality and it’s time to turn that up,” said Larry Bodner, its CEO, referencing the brand’s 2011 roots when founder Michael Dubin joked about overpriced razor rivals.
“We Put Our Money Where It Matters” is designed to reinforce Dollar Shave Club’s irreverent brand voice while taking aim at legacy CPG competitors the company has long portrayed as conventional and out of touch. The brand first rose to prominence in the early 2010s through low-budget, provocative viral ads that openly challenged rivals such as Gillette, an approach it is now seeking to reinterpret for an era shaped by generative AI. The campaign launches at a time when consumer attitudes toward AI-generated creative remain mixed.
Recent examples highlight that tension. McDonald’s Netherlands this week removed an online video created with AI to depict holiday stress after it triggered a strong negative reaction, according to Ad Age. Coca-Cola’s AI-driven seasonal campaigns have also prompted debate, with some critics arguing they lack the human warmth traditionally associated with the brand’s holiday advertising. Meanwhile, vodka brand Svedka is set to further test audience receptiveness to generative AI with a Super Bowl commercial in February that was largely produced using the technology.
“There’s so much negativity and concern about AI, like it’s this evil sister in the closet we don’t open it late at night but it’s part of our lives and we just have to deal with it,” said Bodner, noting AI can be useful if used correctly. As for the ad, he said, “anyone who is really paying attention knows it’s really AI.”
Dollar Shave Club builds in a layer of self-awareness by positioning the punchline of the ad around a tone-deaf Razor Corp CEO who views replacing humans with AI as the most cost-efficient solution for his struggling business, rather than making more pragmatic cuts, such as giving up a private jet. The brand has said it is aiming for the work to be “meme-worthy,” reflecting a belief that breaking through and capturing attention is the primary challenge in today’s media environment.
The campaign forms part of a broader marketing push as Dollar Shave Club looks to stand out in an increasingly crowded razor category, where it competes not only with established players like Gillette and Schick but also with a growing number of fellow direct-to-consumer brands. Earlier this year, the company intensified its marketing efforts with its largest campaign to date, launched in September to support two new razor products. In contrast to its AI-led creative, that initiative centred on real Dollar Shave Club members, brought together as the “Order of the Blade”, an unconventional, in-house-style collective of 23 customers who collaborated on ideas that ultimately appeared in real-world billboards and television advertising.
The campaign will run across digital platforms including TikTok, Meta, Instagram and YouTube, alongside placements on connected TV. Dollar Shave Club, which operates with a 20-person marketing team, managed media buying in-house.
