A new grassroots campaign ad went viral on Friday for attempting to argue that voting for Vice President Kamala Harris is the more manly choice this presidential election.
The ad featured actors portraying men who cite their masculine credentials, ranging from men boasting they are "man enough" to do various stereotypically male activities, to more humorous boasts like eating "carburetors for breakfast" or not being "afraid of bears," eventually resolving with the men declaring their support for liberal women’s political causes and for the Harris campaign.
The ad, which did not come from the Harris-Walz campaign, struck many online commentators as a prime example of why Harris is struggling to appeal to men.
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Senior policy analyst at Independent Women's Forum Inez Stepman marveled at the video one X user dubbed "the cringiest political ad ever created" and replied, "This can’t be real."
Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino remarked, "It's so bizarre that those on the political left, who for years proselytized the hoi poi that men can be women and women can be men, that men can compete in women's sports because we are all genderless creatures, now think they have credibility to say what a real man is all about. Sorry you blew it years ago."
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Podcaster Wade Stotts poked fun at the awkwardness of one character in a cowboy hat by joking about what else he might say, like, "Howdy, pardner. Great economy we're havin' today, ain't it? Sure hope Trump doesn't poison the water hole. Anyway, nice talkin' to ya. I've been outdoors before."
"Must-see Kamala ad," Claremont Institute fellow David Reaboi quipped. "Not only do they have no idea how actual men speak, they couldn’t find any convincing male actors."
"This is amazing," RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway said of the video. "Can’t tell if it’s satire or not. I don’t think it is?"
Claremont Institute associate editor Spencer Klavan suggested that this video, if anything, is revealing about what the American left wants men to be.
"When Harris Walz say what men are like, they mean this is what men *should* be. You can tell because when it turns out men are revolted by this and reject it, they’ll blame men for being insufficiently enlightened, not themselves for failing to understand men."
"This ad is amazing because neither pole in the argument captures the spirit of ‘being a real man,’" City Journal writer Chris Rufo said. "It's not about barrel-aged bourbon or deadlifting 500 pounds, nor is it about supporting IVF or voting for Kamala Harris. These are both caricatures: one is a left-wing mistranslation of ‘manosphere masculinity’; the other is an attempt to ‘redefine masculinity’ in left-wing ideological terms. Taken together, they represent a phony simulacrum of the male nature."
Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir argued, "What this ad fundamentally misses is that manliness is all about NOT waiting for encouragement or permission to stand up for (or to) something. This is what makes it at once dangerous and essential for civilization."
"I don't think this ad is meant to convince men to vote for Harris (LOL)," Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote. "I think it's meant to reassure her base—college educated women—that the Democratic Party is truly theirs. The only men the party recognizes are these emasculated, AI generated putzes."
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The ad's director, Jacob Reed, said it was made for Creators for Harris, and a disclaimer for the ad says it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
He noted that the ad is a half-joking, yet earnest appeal, "even though it’s more sketch comedy than political ad, what these men are saying is true."
"With the rise of role models like Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff on the national stage, I think the left is finally finding its footing on how to talk about masculinity — I think we’re overdue for a redefinition of what it means to be a man in America and I hope this campaign can start to shape that conversation."
Fast Company reported that Reed's "original version was a bit more scolding. It included lines like, ‘I’m not afraid of a woman having rights because what kind of creep would I be then?’"
Later however, "After marinating on the concept a bit further, Reed realized the last thing he wanted to do was condescend to his potential audience, whom he saw as both people already on board the Harris train and people on the fence."
Fox News Digital reached out to Reed and the Harris and Trump campaigns.
