Brawny Man logo gets makeover

Brawny paper towels has given the famous Brawny Man logo a makeover. The original Brawny Man was introduced in 1974, and everyone seemed to agree that his look was dated despite some tweaking over the years.

Back then, he had blond feathered hair that was parted in the middle, brown eyes and a handlebar moustache. His rugged physique was clothed in a red, plaid shirt, he held a peavey, which is a tool used by lumberjacks to handle logs, and he was posing in front of an alpine forest. In short, he looked like the star attraction in a 1970s lumberjack-themed adult film.

Over the years, the company changed the Brawny man's shirt first to a green plaid, then to a blue plaid, followed by a purple plaid and finally to a blue denim work shirt. In 1984, he got a haircut and his eyes were changed to green. In 1991, he began parting his hair on the side. In 1992, to celebrate the holiday season, the Brawny man wore a Santa cap -- this time he looked like the star attraction in a 1970s Christmas-themed adult film. [...]

The redesign of this beloved American icon was done by Toronto-based illustrator Greg Banning. "They wanted to update the character and give him darker hair and darker features to make him universally appealing, but also keep the Brawny man look and feel," says Banning. "Losing the handlebar moustache, I think, was the main thing."

USA Today focuses on the market research that guided the makeover. "Why keep a guy at all? Two years of Brawny research found women love him."

Then Deskey had consumers create their image of a Brawny man using a sort of digital mix-and-match Colorforms kit. Among their fantasies: a beach scene instead of trees.

Deskey analyzed the findings with an eye to what appealed to the broadest range of women. "We took what they had seen and blown up in their heads. They gave us permission to make him big and strong. ... They wanted him to be real, but not too real. They didn't want to be reminded of someone they dated, or the guy down the street."

What has been the enduring appeal of the lumberjack on paper towels?

"He's strong with a gentle touch, and that's what women want," Biondi says.

Last year when the redesign process was announced, Hank Stuever interviewed the original Brawny Man about the changes.

Q: Brawny, you do seem to hark back to another era. The ruggedness, the feathered Vitalis hair, the mustache, the toothy grin out of that Robert Redford-Burt Reynolds-Kris Kristofferson macho type. I'm thinking of lumberjacks, of Grant Goodeve, of "B.J. and the Bear." Even the Marlboro Man has died. Do you miss those days?

A: Don't forget "Magnum P.I.," or Grizzly Adams, or the Village People! I still think Tom Selleck should send me a check, since I made him possible. [Laughs. Sighs.] Of course I miss the '70s and early '80s. Abso-toot-ly. Let me tell you, it's hard to wake up one day and realize that you're not as, I dunno, "sexy" as you once were, that people aren't buying you anymore. I never gave much attention to my whole "look," which I think used to work in my favor. I was outdoorsy, I was a little rough, but nice. I was real. I was a painting, but I was real.

Meanwhile, Georgia-Pacific recently sued a pornsite operator for using the term "brawny man" in its URL, which they argued "is confusing to customers and may lead legitimate inquiries about Brawny paper towels to porn sites."

Posted on Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 2:07 PM