Who is Juan Valdez?
Juan Valdez is a fictitious character who was created in 1959 to represent the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia, founded in 1926. He is one of the most familiar faces in the advertising world, with his moustache, sombrero, poncho and his faithful mule, Lana. In the first commercials, Juan Valdez used to wander around in the coffee fields, picking the ripe coffee berries with his hands. He was a romantic representative of thousands of Colombian “cafeteros”, or “caficultores”. At the same time, his image drew a great deal of criticism on its road to success. The real cafetero in the early days of Juan Valdez lived in dire poverty. Anti-government guerrillas and narcotics traffickers endangered his already insecure life. Poisonous DDT was sprayed on his coffee fields, often, shockingly, while he and other cafeteros were at work. The National Federation failed to represent these horrors. In later ads, Juan Valdez moved from the coffee fields to the American housewife’s kit
