Whitney Jefferson, Editor of Jezebel is confused.
We’re confused: is Fabio really the new Old Spice guy or are the new series of Old Spice ads featuring Italian model with golden locks just some kind of publicity stunt?
Maybe I can help. It’s not a publicity stunt, it’s an ad campaign.
Of course, it’s easy to understand the confusion. Not only did Old Spice move away from a sure thing in Isaiah Mustafa, Fabio’s English isn’t the best. For instance, his Twitter bio reads, “I am new Old Spice Guy Fabio. Welcome you to the future of mens body smell company, much Fabio. Your wishes are command me….”
And his tweets are not much better, which is all part of the game…
“@vndls Why you want old, Old Spice Guy when you have new guy Fabio?”
“Who is Old Spice man? Who is Fabio? Combine these questions into one answer. THEN you have knowledge.”
“@nurseash88 Yes! I am Top Model of Americas and Universe.”
The thing that’s messed up about this to me is that no young, cool, guy in their target demo tracks with Fabio on anything but an ironic level. Mustafa was a true badass, wasn’t he? Doesn’t Fabio cheapen the brand?
I purposely did not buy any old spice product because I AM too cool to buy products based on stupid commercials – WTF were you buying before the commercials? Are you cool now that you wear the same product as some guy that you are obviously not as cool as? If I was such a loser I would be buying Justin Bieber concert tickets also.