Here's a little treat for you all. I found an article on Yahoo! that discusses the characters in some of our favorite ads. Who they are, where they came from, what else they've done. It's sort of the "Where are they now?" of the commercial world. From the legend himself, Mr. Whipple, to Fred the Baker of Dunkin' Donuts, there is info on each. I'll post the a few, and you may continue reading more
here. (On the site you can view the commercials for each) The article begins with none other than "The most interesting man in the world" for Dos Equis.
Who is "The Most Interesting Man in the World"? According to Dos Equis, which introduced the hugely popular character in 2007, "his reputation is expanding faster than the universe." So how could we not be intrigued? Personally, we need to know more.
But Dos Equis isn't giving up the ghost. Jonathan Goldsmith, who plays the suave older gentleman has been unavailable for comment, no doubt at the behest of the company that hoped to preserve the mystique of their pitchman by casting an unknown actor.
We were hoping we could seek Goldsmith out during the Dos Equis-sponsored 14-city multi-cultural circus road show called "The Most Interesting Show in the World." But according to a company spokesperson, "Unfortunately, he has been detained, counseling tribal mystics in Swaziland, and cannot attend the tour." Clearly, this will not be our opportunity to find out more about the sophisticated man.
Inspired by the king of carpe diem himself, we chose to push forward on our own to get the facts. We weren't surprised to find out that Goldsmith is an actor, but we were giddy to uncover the treasure trove of bit parts he played in the cheesiest TV shows from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Goldsmith made guest appearances on over 45 series throughout the last 30 years, including "Hawaii Five-O," "Eight Is Enough," "The Rockford Files," "Barnaby Jones," "Charlie's Angels," "CHiPs," "The Fall Guy," "Dynasty," "T.J. Hooker," "Knots Landing," "Hardcastle and McCormick," "Knight Rider," "Magnum, P.I.," "MacGyver," and "Murder, She Wrote." No wonder "even lucha libres remove their masks in his presence." Yet his longest run on prime time was a 13-episode stint on "Dallas" in 1989. Want to see what he looked like as a sniveling thug and much less interesting character actor back in '85? Check him out in this classic "A-Team" episode.
And yet, that's all we could find. No date of birth. No tales of a childhood in some exotic land. No accounts of a swinging singles apartment building in the '70s or a string of bad marriages and paternity suits. So we've decided to let it ride, just as he would want us to, and enjoy the fact that "his beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man's entire body." If you're still yearning to find out what makes T.M.I.M. tick, you can ask him yourself… if you dare. Naturally, he has his own Facebook page because, of course, he's interesting.
The Most Interesting Man is just the latest fictional character we've grown to love over the years. Wonder what happened to your favorite pitchmen, -women, and -children from the '60s, '70s, and '80s? Read on to find out who made the list and where they are today.
Mr. Whipple for Charmin
The actor behind this American TV-commercial icon actually had quite an international background. Dick Wilson was born Riccardo DiGuglielmo in England to an Italian father (also a vaudeville performer) and an English mother (a singer). When Riccardo was still a baby, his family moved to Canada, where he landed his first radio role at the age of 15 and changed his name to avoid typecasting. He took time out from his comic dancing career (you heard us) to fight for the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Battle of Britain in World War II (yes, we're still talking about the toilet-paper guy). When the war ended he moved to the U.S., where he worked in TV on shows like "Maude" and "Fantasy Island" and in the films "The World's Greatest Athlete" and "The Incredible Shrinking Woman." But Wilson's true success came as Charmin pitchman Mr. Whipple. From his first commercial in 1965 (filmed, appropriately enough, in Flushing, N.Y.) to his 504th spot some 30 years later, Wilson begged curious customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin." He worked just 12 days a year and raked in $300,000 annually. Not a bad gig.
Clara Peller for Wendy's
In 1985 retired character actress and manicurist Clara Peller made a huge mistake: she found the beef. Worse yet, she found it in a jar of Prego Plus pasta sauce. Her bosses at Wendy's were not pleased. They had given the 81-year-old her big break just one year earlier. It was a short run, but it had a big impact. Clara's “Where’s the beef?” catchphrase even found its way into Walter Mondale’s lexicon during the 1984 Presidential campaign. Clara made a few appearances in films like "Moving Violations" and on specials like "Wrestlemania 2," before passing away in 1987.
Read the full article here:
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/the-most-interesting-pitchmen-in-the-world--379
I love reading, well, I love the idea of reading. I try to read, I really do. I'm probably in the middle of about 5 different books right now, and I keep buying more. Though, within the last year, I've hit the trade publications hard. Subscribing to AdAge, Creativity, and Communication Arts. These are really cool and should be required reading if you are a student of advertising. Throughout my college career though, we've been given books to read, great books, like Al Reis and Jack Trout's "Positioning" and "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This!" by Luke Sullivan. I love reading advertising and learning more from the masters of the industry. But, I'm out of school, doing an unpaid internship, working 21 hours for free, holding down two other part time jobs just to make it to the northside and back and pay some bills. Not much left at the end of the week. 
