You know you've reached a certain level of cultural penetraton when you are parodied on SNL. I vaguely remember a sketch from last Saturday's show taking on Dell's "Steven" character, their relentlessly cheerful and insistent pitchman.
Well now the dude may be getting dumped:
- Dell Computer Corp.'s sales of personal computers have soared since the advent of the fictional pitchman "Steven," known for his catchphrase, "Dude, you're getting a Dell!"
But perhaps fearful of a backlash against the ubiquitous Steven, who playfully harangues friends and strangers into buying a Dell PC, the company said on Monday it is moving on to a new, less dude-centric advertising campaign.
"We're trying to look at some alternatives," said Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman, who said the company is currently airing ads that feature a group of eager interns. "We test ran some of the interns spots during the summer and got some positive reactions."
Kaufman declined to say if the "Steven" campaign was merely on hiatus, or gone for good.
In two years, Steven, played by 21-year-old New York University acting student Ben Curtis, has become a cult advertising figure not seen since the likes of Joe Izuzu and Clara Peller of Wendy's "Where's the beef?" fame.
Here is a profile of Curtis from the Dell site:
- Ben Curtis is a rising star who is currently starring prominently in Dell Computer Corporation's national advertising campaign as "Steven," a hip teenager who convinces his parents, his friend's parents and random people at the mall to buy computers from Dell. This campaign has been highly successful and has given Ben a great launch pad to further his thespian aspirations.
Ben recently hosted the "Sundance Report" at the Sundance Film Festival 2002 and has been seen in coverage on the Today Show, CNN, ABC's 20/20 Downtown, and in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the St. Petersburg Times and many other publications.
He has been dubbed a "breakout star" by Entertainment Weekly, "Gen X's answer to Where's the Beef?," by the Wall Street Journal and "lovable" by USA Today.
When Ben is not playing "Steven" he is a third year student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He recently performed in a NYU production of Sam Shephard's "Buried Child" as the lead character Vince.
Ben hails from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He first got the "acting bug" when performing magic shows in his hometown. Ben's next step could take him just about anywhere as he's currently auditioning for several opportunities with TV, film, and theatre.
Don't forget, Keanu Reeves and Sean Penn's careers were launched on expressive use of the word "dude."
Article comments
1 - meredith
poor steve. this is not going to help his depression and many other teenage ailments, as depicted on SNL.
2 - JT
Hey, let 'Steven' stay! As a fellow Chattanoogan
we say 'good for you!' I hope he does well, he's
a good spokesperson...so let him stay, dudes!!
JT
3 - Susan
Grrrrrr! Ok does anyone have the latest news? I just gotta know..."Where's the original Dell dude?"
OMG! I don't think I can take another Dell commercial w/ those new REAL geeks, see that's the difference between the latest Dell commercial geeks...dorks rather....Curtis was "acting" like a computer geek...the new dorks Dell has picked are NOT acting THEY ARE GEEEKS EWWWWWW & UGLY TOO! Curtis was cute, funny, liked by all & btw he never REALLY GOT ON ANYONE'S NERVES...like the new Dell dorks! ANYONE OUT THERE READING THIS W/ DELL or ANYONE MIGHT HAVE SOME PULL INSIDE DELL CO. TELL EM TO BRING BACK BEN CURTIS or DROP THE DELL DUDE COMMERCIALS ALL TOGETHER!
Ok to the Dell higher-ups aka corp. money mongrels...IF what I hear is true, that Curtis might have got caught (busted) scoring a dime bag of greenery...no not as in spinich, sooooo what BIG DEAL why not use it to your $$ advantage, work it in or work around it...just BRING BACK THE REAL DELL DUDE! Until then, I refuse to watch OR PURCHASE ANYTHING Dell!
Has anyone started a R.D.D.D. ("REAL DEAL DELL DUDE") CAMPAIGN OR PETITION over the net!!! I'D BE GLAD TO SIGN & PASS ON!
Peace man,
Signed Sincerely - Missing the R.D.D.D.
4 - christine pfeiffer
hi i love adam i think he is better looking then the regular dell dude and the regular dell dude is ugly and my fave commericals are the one with adam room and the teddy bear i thought that was cute that adam loves teddy bears and the one with the video and adam saids that close up as him there might be more i just love that face i love you adam
5 - bryan
Forget the neerdy steven dell dude let sara play the commericals,she is beautiful and could sell a whole lot more computers than steven could,who probably doesn't even own a dell computer to begin with,so please let sara do the commericals because besides her talent she's beautifull..
WAY TO GO SARA:LOVE YOU!
6 - Shirley DiRupo
Bring back Ben Curtis!! He was by far the BEST advertiser for Dell computers. Nobody can compare to him. Forive his misdimeanor, for heaven's sake! God, we had a PRESIDENT who smoked pot!
7 - Vector design
I've been using dell for PC's for 11 years and the only issues I've ever had with them was either a drive finally burning out or the processor over heating. Both very minor things that are easy replacement parts.
I currently have 10 Dell's networked on a 10 port router/modem network. I just can't see myself ever using another brand of PC.