CINCINNATI: Procter & Gamble has seen an "80% positive response" from millennials to its recent Gillette marketing campaigns, according to Jon Moeller, vice chairman, COO and CFO, during the company’s earnings call.

"What we're seeing now with our willingness to differentiate is we're rejuvenating both the Gillette and Venus brands," Moeller said on Tuesday’s earnings call. "The campaigns that we've put out there are working. They are engaging very much with Gen Z and millennials, and we've seen a significant 80% positive response from millennials to our recent campaigns and their likelihood to purchase Gillette, which is positive."

P&G took an $8 billion write-down on the carrying value of Gillette’s goodwill in the most recent quarter. The company blamed currency devaluations since it bought Gillette for $57 billion in 2005. The company also cited ongoing tough competition in the razor blade category. P&G has no plans to sell off the Gillette shaving care business, Moeller told Yahoo Finance.

Product volume increased in all segments except P&G’s grooming segment, with organic volume falling 1% in the most recent quarter, with organic sales up 4%.

Earlier this year, Gillette’s provocative We Believe: The Best Men Can Be ad, which calls on men to change their behavior in light of the #MeToo movement, received a mixed reaction from consumers. Some praised the spot, while others called for a boycott of the razor brand.

PR pros told PRWeek that they liked the idea, but didn’t love the execution. The shaving brand, meanwhile, said it wasn’t concerned about what critics think.

Regardless of the ad’s popularity, it has certainly caught the public’s attention. Since January 13, the ad has been seen 31 million times on the official YouTube channel of the brand, with 104,000 interactions consisting of likes, dislikes and comments.

Since the #MeToo movement started in 2017, brands are less afraid to have a conversation about what it really means to be a man, experts told PRWeek in October. To name a few, men's clothing retailer Bonobos kicked off a campaign last July to #EvolveTheDefinition of the word "masculinity," while Schick Hydro launched The Man I Am, a campaign with basketball star Kevin Love talking about positive masculinity. In early 2018, men’s grooming brand Harry’s explored "what it really means to be a man" with its A Man Like You campaign.