Commercials have always been a part of TV shows. And of course still are. Right now there are so many commercials for a core category of products that I consider myself to have completed the first year of medical school for the knowledge I've gained watching Big Pharma make their pitch for my bowel and mood movements. I've also had to beat down the urge to buy a truck that "has raised the bar...it is the bar, baby," with "military grade aluminum and advanced torque," and of course beer.
At ten-years of age I no longer believed in Santa Claus, but I did believe there was this Spanish guy in Colombia, who with his trusty burro, picked the world's coffee beans, the "world's richest coffee," Juan Valdez.
Juan is no longer with us, but it is the second Juan Valdez who has passed away, Carlos Sánchez 83, "Colombia's Juan Valdez" as reported in today's NYT obit section.
The Juan who I grew up with was apparently created in 1959 by the advertising firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach and was played by Jose F. Duval, a Colombian actor. The campaign was of course to promote coffee beans from Colombia, and tried to offset the perception of a country that gave the world cocaine and drug cartels. Growing up, this perception was not that strong, if indeed there was any such perception. It did however become so.
Here was Juan, roaming those Colombian high altitude hills with his burro Conchita, carefully picking every bean and laying it down in his sack. I'm sure at some point I believed Juan was the only guy picking the beans, and that the whole beans at the A&P that people could grind up themselves—8 O'clock Coffee—all came from his efforts with his burro. Juan worked hard.
Those ground beans at the A&P sure smelled good. The A&P in the neighborhood had the grinding machines—three I think—right at the entrance. No wonder people drank coffee. It did smell good.
Carlos Sánchez was an artist and actor who got the gig to play Juan in 1969 and retired from the role in 2006. The role of course defined his existence, and was sorely missed when he stopped playing Juan. I can't say I've seen any Juan Valdez commercials lately, but apparently there is a third Juan currently played by Carlos Castaneda.
Strong identification with characters and pitchmen in commercials is nothing new. A parlor game might be to see how many you can name. The Marlboro Man would surely be one, as surely Flo would be for Progressive insurance.
My favorite these days is Jan who is pitching Toyotas. Jan wears red, and is so identified with Toyota they even had her in there pitching when she was pregnant, something that decades ago would be unheard of.
I have a good friend who I used to work with who occasionally picks me up in her new Totoya red Rav 4 for a lunch date. I can't help but think of Jan. I want to find the dealership she's at and ask how she and the baby are doing.
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