Monday Mayhem – The Most Interesting Post in the World

Okay, maybe it won’t be, but this week’s blog topic is inspired by a liquor store advertising poster, so you can’t expect too much.

Let’s talk about the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World. Unquestionably, this has been on of the most successful campaigns for any beer not produced in St. Louis, MO. At one time, everyone was talking about The Most Interesting Man in the World. Why?

Because “He lives vicariously through himself”, that’s why. The mystique surrounding the man whose “Signature won a Pulitzer Prize” was compelling. So was the face of the ad campaign, Jonathan Goldsmith.

Mr. Goldsmith was in his late 60s when the campaign began in 2007, but handsome enough to make the non-beer-drinking segment of the population consider sipping a cold one.

His sexy silver fox looks helped make it believable that he was allowed to touch he art in museums. Or that in Spain, he chases the bulls. We totally bought into the swagger because he looked exactly like a man who could have/would have done all those things, just as a matter of course. Not because he set out to prove what a man he was.

But now there is a new Most Interesting Man in the World. And while Augustin Legrand is easy on the eyes as well, he just doesn’t work for me as well as Jonathan did.

Sure, he has the beard and a few laugh lines, but where are the sexy streaks of silver? To me, this new, not-so-improved version simply plays as an overgrown thrill-seeker, not an experienced man who became ‘a national treasure in countries he’s never visited’ simply by being who he was.

The switch was made to ‘reinvigorate’ the brand. It’s not working for me. I want my silver fox back, but what is a girl supposed to do when his business cards simply say, “I’ll call you”?

How about you? Have you ever fallen for the face of an ad campaign, or are you still scarred by the image of Joe Namath wearing Hanes Beautymist pantyhose?

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