A new alcoholic version of the classic Australian soft drink Solo has renewed hopes of a return to the screen of the legendary Solo Man.
Solo was launched in 1968 by Taraxin, a Sydney PE teacher Michael S. played the first solo person in the 1970s and 80s.
Solo Man quickly became an Aussie legend thanks to his fearless ability to row through rapids, wrestle wild brumbies and kayak off cliffs.
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On Saturday, Carlton and United told Daily Mail Australia it was bringing back the lone adult audience that had always craved a fully alcoholic version of the drink.
It will be sold in four, 10 and 24-packs of 375mL cans with 4.5 percent alcohol content.
“He’s a legend in Australian advertising,” Mark, from Melbourne’s western suburbs, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘He was part of a wave of fair-haired Aussie he-men in a golden age that included the likes of Albie Mangles and Leo Wonker.
‘He was canoeing down the mountain and doing all these dangerous things and at the end he would crack a solo.’
Portrayed as a macho, traditionally masculine beast, Solo Man quickly fell out of fashion during politically correct times.
The Hard Solo launch comes as American brewer Budweiser continues to try to win back male drinkers after its Bud Light advertising disaster.
Three months after Bud Light was featured in a social media campaign by a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, the company shows no signs of regaining its spot at the top of the US beer charts.
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A 1990 commercial features The Solo Man launching himself off a cliff in a kayak
Solo was unashamedly targeted at men, with its once-famous slogan proclaiming: ‘Solo lemon: a man’s drink.’
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Early promotional shots for the new Hard Solo feature a well-manicured, hipster-looking vegan-like character covered in tattoos popular in the Abbotsford area where the brewery responsible for the alcoholic brew is located.
‘He looks like a kombucha man,’ said Mark.
However, sources have told Daily Mail Australia that the new drink is aimed at people in their 30s and 40s, raising hopes that we may yet see the rise of the hard solo man.
The original Solo Man ad campaign was so successful, it ripped off the character of Campbell the soup maker, which ran a similar ad featuring the ‘Fully Loaded Man’.
The man, fully loaded with ‘meatballs’, appeared in the ad traveling down a hill before crushing a can of soup in his hand.
CUB spokesman Hayden Turner said the taste of the new Hard Solo was reminiscent of the classic Solo but with a bitter finish imparted by the alcohol.
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The solo man enjoys a thirst quencher after working up a sweat doing manly work
When creating the new drink, the brewer said he was determined to make sure it was clearly labeled as an alcoholic beverage to keep it out of the hands of children.
‘When developing Hard Solo we were only prepared to move forward if the can and branding looked very different from regular Solo,’ Mr Turner said.
‘We’ve achieved this – the Hard Solo, with its distinctive black can, looks very different from the regular Solo. We used a very prominent alcohol symbol on the front of the can so it wouldn’t be confused with Solo and clearly for mature consumers only.’
While Australians are begging for the return of Solo Man, Mr Turner said the company had no immediate plans to bring the legendary man back to the screen.
‘There will be no traditional out-of-home advertising, TV or radio campaigns to promote Hard Solo,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
But fans of Solo Man have already hinted that they are planning a campaign to bring back the legend.
Hard Solo will be available in bottle shops nationwide later this month, with a price tag of around $24 for a four-pack.