Working Through Pain, Actor Dean Winters Reprises 'Mayhem' Role For Allstate

Actor Dean Winters is back in a new ad for Allstate. Winters hasn’t appeared in an Allstate ad since mid-2020. 

The reasons are complicated. Among them, Allstate switched agencies from Leo Burnett to Droga5. Leo Burnett created Mayhem in 2010. When Allstate introduced branding that year, it was without the Mayhem character or Dean Winters. 

The actor has also faced challenges. Winters nearly turned down the role in 2010 because of his physical condition. Winters suffers from neuropathy, nerve damage, which results in him suffering constant pain

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Winters suffered a cardiac arrest in 2009 after contracting a bacterial infection. Afterward, he underwent multiple operations. “I haven’t taken a step since 2009 without being in pain,” Winters told Fox Business in November . “I’ve got neuropathy on, you know, on a whole different level where I can’t feel my hands and my feet. But if I stepped on a pebble, it’s like I go through the roof... It’s a very weird dichotomy. It’s like, it’s very hard to figure out. Nothing you can do about it. I’ve been sucking it up because, you know, the alternative is not a place where I want to be.” 

In the new ad, Winters, as Mayhem, is cycling on an exercise bike. The ad concludes with him crashing through a window, in characteristic fashion. 

Allstate's spokeswoman said the work was produced by Allstate’s in-house creative department, led by Chief Creative Officer David Hernandez.

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