Joe Isuzu


Joe Isuzu is a fictional spokesman who starred in a series of 1980s television advertisements for Isuzu cars and trucks. Created by the ad agency Della Femina, Travisano, and Partners, and directed by Hollywood director Graham Baker, the segments aired on American television in 1986-90, reaching their zenith in 1987 after the character was featured during Super Bowl XXI. Played by actor David Leisure, Joe Isuzu was a pathological liar who made outrageous and overinflated claims about Isuzu’s cars, with one commercial even casting him as the Boy Who Cried Wolf. The campaign was resurrected briefly in 1999 and continued until 2001 to promote several cars such as the Isuzu Axiom. A decade after Isuzu exited the U.S. market, Leisure reprised the role for a 2018 commercial for Johnny5ive, an Isuzu Trooper repairman.
Joe Isuzu may have had a "twin sister" Joanne who appeared in a 1988 advertisement because she "loved her new Isuzu Trooper II."
Famous quotes include these:
The character became a fixture in American popular culture. In 1988, Michael Dukakis, in a debate with George H. W. Bush during that year's United States presidential election, said, "If Bush keeps it up, he's going to be the Joe Isuzu of American politics."
Leisure reprised his role as Joe Isuzu in a 1992 A&W Cream Soda commercial. True to form, Isuzu made outrageous claims about the soda.
In 2012, Daily Finance named David Leisure #15 of Top 25 Celebrity Spokespeople of All Time for having portrayed Joe Isuzu in Isuzu advertisements.