Narcos Dog Names

The Netflix original series Narcos first aired on the streaming service on August 28, 2015 to much excitement and hype. Thankfully, the show did not disappoint and received positive acclaim from critics and the audience. It quickly became a worldwide phenomenon due to the impressive cast members and excellent performances. But much of the success of the show is due to the storyline, which is a mix of fictional and real-life accounts of the life of Pablo Escobar and the people he has interacted with.

It is no secret that Pablo Escobar is one of the most notorious men in history. Coming from a poor background, he hustled through life by selling contraband items before moving on to the cocaine business. He was able to infiltrate the United States market and by the 80s, his Medellin cartel was said to be supplying 80% of cocaine in the country. Surprisingly, even with his violent and brutal nature, he became well-loved and idolized by a lot of people, especially those from his hometown.

Pablo’s name has always been synonymous to drugs, particularly cocaine, which is typically a negative thing. However, thanks to clever advertising, an anti-drug campaign was able to turn this around. Pablo the Drug Mule Dog is the primary character in a series of television campaigns that go against cocaine use. The commercials were created by ad agency Mother for FRANK, the anti-drug movement of the United Kingdom. The dog’s name was assumed to be inspired by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

The primary ad from the series shows Pablo in a cellar with a huge cut on his chest, which contained several bags of cocaine. From this scene, Pablo starts to wonder why cocaine was such a big deal and sets out to meet people involved in the trade – from dealers and pushers to users in a club. The ad ends with Pablo in a payphone as he calls FRANK.

Voiced by David Mitchell, Pablo has a sardonic sense of humor and often mocks the cocaine business. In the series of ads, different elements of cocaine use are highlighted and scoffed at, such as sob-stories about snorting coke using pounds and bleeding noses. One of Pablo’s most memorable quotes goes “Ever woken up with a huge gash in your stomach? I’ve had better mornings.”

Pablo the Drug Mule Dog’s campaign was considered a success; surveys suggest that 83% of respondents deemed the ads as effective. Using Pablo in the campaign has also been widely praised in the media because of the impact it had without having to romanticize the cocaine business.