CERTIFICATION                                                     Exhibit  31.1

I, James M. Kilts, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of The Gillette Company;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.  Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements  and  other  financial
information  included in this report fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer(s)  and I are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

(a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
     controls and  procedures to be designed  under our  supervision,  to ensure
     that  material  information  relating  to  the  registrant,  including  its
     consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made  known to us by  others  within  those
     entities,  particularly  during the  period in which  this  report is being
     prepared;

(b)  (Intentionally omitted)

(c)  Evaluated the  effectiveness  of the registrant's  disclosure  controls and
     procedures  and  presented  in  this  report  our  conclusions   about  the
     effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,  as of the end of
     the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the  registrant's  internal  control
     over financial  reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent
     fiscal  quarter (the  registrant's  fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
     annual report) that has  materially  affected,  or is reasonably  likely to
     materially  affect,  the  registrant's   internal  control  over  financial
     reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying  officer(s) and I have disclosed,  based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,  to the
registrant's  auditors  and the Audit  Committee  of the  registrant's  Board of
Directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

(a)  All  significant  deficiencies  and  material  weaknesses  in the design or
     operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
     likely to adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability to record,  process,
     summarize and report financial information; and

(b)  Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management  or other
     employees who have a significant role in the registrant's  internal control
     over financial reporting.


Date:  August 5, 2003

                                        /s/ James M. Kilts
                                        ------------------------------
                                        James M. Kilts
                                        Chairman of the Board
                                        and Chief Executive Officer