I just saw the commercial-there he was, with his trusty donkey. This guy has to be one of the longer-running symbols-who invented him?
Juan Valdez is a fictional character that has appeared in advertisements for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia since 1959, representing the Colombian coffee farmer. The advertisements were designed by the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency, with the goal of distinguishing 100%-Colombian coffee from coffee blended with beans from other countries. He typically appears alongside his mule Conchita, carrying sacks of harvested coffee beans. He has become an icon for Colombia as well as coffee in general, and Juan Valdez’s iconic appearance is frequently mimicked or parodied in television and other media. - wikipedia
There is a chain of Juan Valdez cafes in Colombia. It’s pretty similar to Starbucks. I liked it because it they have air conditioning when it’s eight million degrees in Cartagena, and I got my dad some genu-wine Juan Valdez Colombian coffee there.
Since there aren’t really all that many tourists in Colombia, I have to think that he’s an iconic figure inside the country and not meant just to appeal to foreigners.