Aaron Peskin: a mannered cartoon spokesperson?

A few months ago - in fact nearly one and a half years ago I saw a BART station ad with a hip looking cartoony spokesman looking guy. He looked very familiar - very familiar in a local San Francisco politician in City Hall kind of way.

You guessed it - I thought it looked like Aaron Peskin... with his shirt open, and with a more stylized mustache. Looked a bit in the spirit of the old Ask Jeeves butler. (I actually had a friend once who posed for a Jeeves ad. Sadly that was back in 2001, and it's hard to find old ads from 2001 on the internet.)

At the time I saw the ads, Peskin wasn't on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors - now he is. I investigated the ad and learned the cartoony fellow is known as "Mr. Manners", a sort of mascot for the Bridgemen, which is a great gay/bi/trans men community group that gives back to the community in many ways.

Image: Ask.com

Image: Bridgemen.org

Image: F. Larsen, SF Chronicle

For a moment I thought of writing an ironic or snarky comment on the image or on Aaron Peskin. Then I remembered that it wasn't my style; the Bridgemen seem to be a great organization, and this cartoon character, whether connected to Aaron Peskin or not, had nothing to do with whether you should vote for him. Plus, I'd rather work with people to find solutions.

Aaron Peskin is back working in City Hall. BART stations are plastered with Verizon ands, and The Bridgemen have moved on to other images and ad campaigns, although you can still find Mr. Manners now. The new campaign is quite fun, and funny. I like Carlos who likes to drill.

Image: Bridgemen.org

Image: Bridgemen.org 

Image: Bridgemen.org