Old Spice Guy Wins Out Over Fabio

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Old Spice Guy has won his hunk-off with Fabio. Former football player Isaiah Mustafa has been lead spokesman for the Procter & Gamble Co. brand of men’s body washes and deodorants for nearly two years, starring in a popular series of marketing campaigns relying heavily on YouTube, Twitter and other social media. Now, he has held off a playful effort by the Italian model to become “the new Old Spice Guy.” In a series of videos culminating Thursday, the muscular pitchmen dueled in tongue-in-cheek challenges from one another and viewers. They held staring and whistling contests, bantered and gave advice on writing love letters and working out. P & G says Mustafa won based on consumer feedback such as “likes” and online comments. They called the competition “Mano a Mano en El Bano” (hand-to-hand in the bathroom). Mustafa said he wasn’t worried, even though Fabio has been “the epitome of the sex symbol as a pitchman.” “Not at all,” he told The Associated Press. “There are so many fans that enjoy the Old Spice Guy, there’s not really a calling for him to disappear.” Even “the ferocious Ray Lewis,” the Baltimore Ravens football linebacker, has taken a recent turn pitching Old Spice products, Mustafa pointed out. The campaigns started with Mustafa appearing in a shower clad only in a towel and urging women to look at their man, and then back at him. Then followed an online video series, including one in which he suggested President Barack Obama could improve poll ratings among women by opening speeches with Mustafa’s “Hello, ladies” greeting. The campaigns engineered by Portland, Ore.-based agency Wieden+Kennedy won advertising industry awards, boosted Old Spice sales and have been cited by P & G CEO Bob McDonald as a leading example of the power of multimedia marketing. Brand manager Allison Bolyard said Old Spice will “continue to find a variety of entertaining ways to engage consumers … we love to surprise our consumers.” Mustafa said he expects to stay on as Old Spice pitchman “as long as people like the character and are having fun with it.” Meanwhile, he continues to pursue his acting career in TV and movies including small roles in the current comedy “Horrible Bosses” and next year’s “Three Stooges” movie. Procter & Gamble, maker of consumer products including Pampers diapers, Pantene shampoo and Gillette shavers, is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings Aug. 5. Copyright 2011 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

Earlier attempts to bring Pittsburgh to the big screen failed, including Chabon's own try at adapting the novel. In early 2000, independent filmmaker Jon Sherman (writer and director of 1996's Breathing Room) adapted Chabon's novel into a screenplay, hoping to film it with Jason Schwartzman in the role of Art Bechstein.By August of the same year, Chabon announced that the project had fallen apart, sadly writing, "Ah, well. Maybe someday."

Director Rawson Marshall Thurber got hold of the project sometime prior to 2006, when he began filming after convincing Michael Chabon he could make it work. Chabon had seen the script, and was pleased with it. In order to facilitate the film adaptation, Thurber removed the character of Arthur Lecomte "whole cloth" from the original Chabon novel in what he described as "the most glaring change". Lecomte, a gay man for whom Art begins to develop feelings, had to be removed because Thurber felt strongly "that in order for the film to function properly, it needed a more efficient and more cinematic engine — in short, a love triangle." Consequently, many elements of Arthur Lecomte were folded into the character of Cleveland