Recently, actor Ben Curtis told Bloomberg that he could turn the troubled Dell computer company around. Well, maybe not Curtis himself, but his alter-ego, “Steven, the Dell Dude,” a popular character in a string of commercials that ran over a decade ago. (If you don’t remember the guy, maybe you remember his catchphrase: “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell!”)
Maybe he has a point. If you haven’t heard, Dell hasn’t been doing too well lately. The company is third-runner up in the global PC market, and founder and CEO Michael Dell is shopping around for a leveraged buyout. But back when Curtis was fronting the brand, it used to lead the pack. People would genuinely freak out when they spotted him out in public, and the paparazzi even followed him around. And when he’d lay his catchphrase on the masses, it succeeded in getting them to… you know, actually get a Dell.
Now he thinks bringing back Steven could help the company. Well yeah, of course he does. It would also give him some work. (His acting career hasn’t exactly been lighting Hollywood on fire since his Dell stint.) The likelihood of a comeback is pretty slim, though. He was let go the first time around after getting caught trying to buy pot.
The whole thing got us thinking about tech spokespeople, both real and fictional, official and not. Any of these past and present faces look familiar?
Verizon “Can you hear me now?” guy (Paul Marcarelli)
“Mac,” the Apple hipster (Justin Long)
T-mobile spokesperson (Carly Foulkes)
Nikon’s Ashton Kutcher (who’ll be playing Steve Jobs in the upcoming JOBS)
Microsoft’s “Clippy,” the Windows help icon
Okay, that last one isn’t really a spokesperson, or a person at all for that matter, but at the time, Clippy was so iconically (and irritatingly) Windows, we would’ve been remiss to omit it.
Which tech spokesperson is your fav? Is it one of these, or another that belongs on the list? Hit up our poll, and then let us know in the comments!
