Adam Klaser

Project One Final Draft

Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World

     “He lives vicariously through himself. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. His words carry more weight that would break a less interesting man’s jaw”. This is not Chuck Norris as one might expect, but instead, this is “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. Dos Equis is able to capture the nature of the universal archetypes of being a successful man or woman and having a lavish lifestyle extraordinarily well through a series  of commercials called “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. Through each 30 second advertisement, viewers are exposed to the hypothetical and intriguing experiences of a classy and charming gentleman (Jonathan Goldsmith) who is able to enjoy himself and attract beautiful women. Dos Equis does a very good job of pulling viewers in with their use of interesting one-liners and the extravagant and dangerous experiences of Jonathan Goldsmith.  Within this advertisement campaign, every man is marginalized against the standard of the “Most Interesting Man in the World” which is not possible by real world expectations. This is a great advertising method because it is designed to make people believe that there is correlation between purchasing and drinking Dos Equis beer and having an interesting life. In the “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials, Dos Equis, by applying the pathos of humor and admiration, the logos of a pragmatic appeal to all beer drinkers, and the ethos of a suave man, suggests that one can have an interesting life by purchasing and drinking their beer.

       To begin with, the Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign uses the element of humor to appeal to the audiences’ pathos in an attempt to convince them to buy their beer. By delineating a well-dressed, older man achieving unremarkable feats the ad is able to make the audience laugh, bringing out their sense of humor and therefore causing an emotional response to the advertisement. The humor and ridiculousness of the advertisements are what made them so effective because people like the “Most Interesting Man in The World” just do not exist in the real world. In one commercial, the narrator states “He lives vicariously, through himself”. Now, technically speaking this is impossible because the definition of vicarious is experiencing through another person. However, the humor from this line is what connects the product, Dos Equis, to the character, the “Most Interesting Man in the World”. Through this humorous connection the audience thinks that by drinking Dos Equis they too will be able to live vicariously through themselves, which is exactly what Dos Equis wanted to happen. Humor is the first strategy that Dos Equis deployed (which happened to work really well) in order to sell their product.

     In addition to the pathos of humor, there is also another emotional appeal, admiration, which is almost hidden subconsciously within the advertisements. Every human being has the basic needs of being admired, loved, and appreciated. “The Most Interesting Man in the World” just so happens to be the most admired, loved and appreciated human alive, which creates not only another emotional response but also another connection between the product and the character. The idea here is that if you drink Dos Equis and act like the “Most Interesting Man in the World” you will then be the most admired, loved, and appreciated person in the world. Since men have already identified with the character’s masculinity and classiness, there is another sector of the beer market in which the pathos of humor and admiration has captured: women. The commercials’ elements of humor and admiration are an attempt to cross over the gender lines and attract a wider range of potential customers that have had an emotional response to the “Most Interesting Man in the World”.

                Furthermore, Dos Equis makes a pragmatic, logical appeal to its audience, the beer drinkers, to convince them to purchase and drink its product. In order to make a logical appeal to its audience, Dos Equis, at the end of every commercial, has the “Most Interesting Man in the World”, who is sitting in an fancy restaurant, surrounded by women, state, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis”. By saying that the character prefers Dos Equis and not stating that their product is the “best premium beer”, Dos Equis is able to create a statement that is unarguable, because it is not comparing itself to another brand, which is extremely effective.  Also, by having the “Most Interesting Man in the World” simply claiming that he has a preference for the beer based on his reputable and logical opinion, Dos Equis is able to effectively draw in the “social drinkers”, who like to show class while drinking with their friends.  In order to draw in the “social drinkers”, who occasionally have beer, the character claims that he is not a regular beer drinker, which is appealing to the “social drinking” segment because it shows that Dos Equis values quality over  quantity which is important to that segment. Dos Equis, by valuing quality over quantity, is stating that it is better than the other beer companies that value the opposite.  Using such a logical statement of just purely preference, Dos Equis is able to effectively draw in beer drinkers from multiple segments, proving that the advertisement campaign is effective and successful.

                Lastly, Dos Equis uses the ethos of a suave man to encourage its viewers to purchase and drink their product. The ethos of the “Most Interesting Man in the World” attracts people of all different types who want to be highly admired and have the status of a worldwide celebrity. Through the short clips in the commercials, the audience is able to learn that the actor is clearly the most interesting man in the world. With these short clips, the campaign designers are able to take an ordinary actor and turn him into someone that everyone wants to be, an iconic man who excels in everything he does. Many of the clips shown in the commercials are meant to attract certain sectors of the beer market to Dos Equis’ product. For example, there is one clip in which he comes out of an ice fishing hole with a fish in both hands. He is also seen rescuing a bear from a trap with his bare hands, and even having piano flown down to him in a field where he will supposedly be playing beautiful music. By using such interesting clips, Dos Equis is able to tune in to their audiences’ interests creating ethos for the “Most Interesting Man in the World” which encourage viewers to trust what he says about the beer. This is a remarkable advertising scheme because customers will only buy a product if the person selling it is a reliable source of information, which Dos Equis does perfectly with the ethos of the “Most Interesting Man in the World”.

     All in all, Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man in the World” advertisement campaign tries to encourage viewers to buy their beer by applying the pathos of humor and admiration, the logical appeal of a simple preference, and the ethos of a suave man. Potential customers are drawn in with the humor of the commercials, which makes the commercial stick in their mind encouraging them to buy Dos Equis the next time they see it.  Also, many viewers are brought in simply through the man’s logical preference of Dos Equis, while others are attracted to buying the beer simply because of the man’s trustworthy ethos. In the end, Dos Equis does an excellent job of using pathos, logos, and ethos effectively, encouraging everyone that wants to lead an interesting and exciting life to buy their beer.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92nDNojJofs

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