So, I'm not quite sure which company started the trend of promoting their product or servicing using a fictitious alpha man, but boy did it open a huge can of worms. Nowadays, it seems like every other company is hopping on this, shall I say, ridiculous bandwagon.
For example, FedEx's newest commercial features an exec who creates a sculpture of himself, operates a open-heart surgery, and beats two chess masters simultaneously while giving himself a tattoo on his lower back, all while regurgitating ridiculous lines such as, "FedEx? I thought they just did argent shipping." "What, you think being amazing at one thing means they can't be amazing at other things too?" The idea of this ad seems mostly a knee-jerk reaction to the many other ads of similar natures popping up all over the place and going viral over the internet. It has very little intrinsic qualities (not really that funny or original), but relies solely on a popular trend going around at the moment. This would seem strange, because FedEx's target audience should be businesses, not the average young people or internet junkies who may find this ad amusing to talk about between friends during a commercial break.
This ad shares similarities to Sony's Playstation 3 "It only does everything" campaign. In Sony's ads, a fake executive, Kevin Butler, is a douche, chauvinistic, arrogant alpha male who answers "fan mails" in a satirical, belittling manner. For example, in one particular ad, a fan girl calls in about his boyfriend ignoring her due to the recent release of 'God of War 3", and Kevin gives her the exact treatment, not even speaking to her, and only says "thanks for coming" at the end without looking at her. The PS3 ads, however, are all pretty funny, and the jokes are original in their set up and delivery. It is also highly "copy-able", which I am sure is intended, in hope of inspiring other amateur copy-cat videos to make the campaign go viral.
The most famous and successful marketing campaign of late is the Old Spice campaign, featuring the Old Spice guy, played by Isaiah Mustafa, Terry Crews and Ray Lewis, all NFL football players. This campaign DID go viral, and it it plays deeply with young people's psyche of wanting something different, over the top, and stupidly funny. The image of a hyper-sexed, ridiculously over-the-top self-idolizing Mustafa "Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, now back to ME. Sadly, he isn't me." plays on the imaging of a sexy, chauvinistic asshole that is irresistible to women. The guys at Old Spice understands that their viewers consider this over the top and stupid, but they do it so blatantly and boldly that it somehow justifies itself. For example, at the end of one such video, Mustafa, out of nowhere, is randomly sitting on a horse, and states "I am riding a horse." This image is complimentary to Crews' ultra machoness (abs that can talk) that appeals to young men's inner machoness.
It seems to me this entire trend was started by the guys at Dos Equis, with their "Most interesting man in the world" ads. God knows where their inspiration came from, possibly ripping off another ad of the similar nature, but as far as I can tell, they were the first to start the "fake ridiculously awesome alpha male producer endorser" trend. ( I'm guessing their idea came from the millions of Chuck Norris jokes and watching 007 over and over again). This ad campaign is particularly intriguing, however, because it is very psychological in nature. It targets' consumers' need for self-actualization (Marlow's hierarchy). The character they create is so ridiculous, non of his deeds make sense, but they all are somewhat awe-inspiring in an irrational sense. "He can speak French, in Russian." This character embodies everything a young person might dream of (be it a boy or a girl) - smooth, impossible, charming, experienced, weathered, suave, mysterious...
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