The Fabulous Fabio as the New Old Spice Guy

You remember Fabio, right? The Italian model that used to grace the cover of romance novels with his flowing blond hair? Well, I certainly don’t. This is probably because I was born in the late 80’s and by the time I was inaugurated into pop culture, Fabio was already a bygone icon. So why has Old Spice chosen him as the new face of their viral advertising campaign? And where the hell did Isaiah Mustafa go?? (This last question has received an overwhelming echo on Old Spice’s new Youtube channel)

There only seems to be two opinions that people have of the new ads: you either love it or totally hate it. The ones who hate it just don’t understand “who is Fabio” (and were probably born in the late 80’s or early 90’s, like me) and they just want Mustafa back. Those who love it seem to know who Fabio is (or was) as a culture icon, and more importantly, they get that Fabio is having fun at his own expense. The absurdist scenarios and Fabio’s nonsensical lines are part of the joke – one that is so self-referential and self-deprecating to the point that it all gets a bit too meta. So the joke is on you if you don’t get it. What do you think?

No Youku available