Interview With "Switcher Girl" Ellen Feiss

Ed over in Accounting writes in with a Macinstein interview with Ellen Feiss, an Internet cult figure of a bygone era. Back in 2002, in the heyday of Apple's "Switcher" ads, the 14-year-old Feiss garnered a bit more than 15 minutes of fame. Her Switcher ad became an instant classic — partly because of the widespread belief that she was stoned while filming it, which she says was not the case. In the interview Feiss, who is now a college student with one movie behind her, talks about pseudo Internet fame, drugs, and acting. She says she's still using the same G4 she had when the ad ran. Nostalgia bonus: the ad is embedded at the end of the interview.

Comments

Go PowerBook G4!

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting to hear she's still using the same G4. I'm using the same PowerBook G4 I bought in 2003, because it still is a surprisingly competent notebook after 3.5 years, even for my daily graphics work. I hear all these Windows people complaining about how a PC only lasts a couple of years before you have to buy a new one; I hear that and think, well, that just about negates the "PCs are cheaper" argument...

Apple's Demographic?

[SpzToid]

...What do you think it was about your ads that made you a stand out?
Ellen: I don't know? Because people thought I was stoned, because there aren't that many young girls in computer commercials.

Ellen seems to have figured out where fanboys come from.
- - - -
You can't be ahead of the curve if you're stuck in a loop.

Is submitter, like, 12?

[superdude72]

2002 is not a bygone era damn it. We haven't even decided what to call this decade yet.

Re:Apple ads

[cyclomedia]

You touched upon an important point there too, Joe Public usually doesnt think in terms of Windows vs OSX vs GNU/Linux vs AmigaOS4 ... They buy a "computer". That computer will most likely come in the form of a Dell a HP or a Mac and may well be from PC World with a free digital camera, oh and have Intel Inside too, because that's what the TV adverts tell them is good.

While us geeks are sitting around slashdot arguing about Vista's lateness, OSX's niceness and Linux's empire toppling innocence PC World, HP, Dell and Apple are raking in the big bucks and conditioning the public's opinions on what constitutes the latest greatest in computing via advertising.

The simple fact is that until PC World adertises their latest Red Hat or Suse bundle during the Superbowl GNU/Linux will not be joe-public's-desktop-ready no matter what we collectively shout about it here.

Obviously, i sincerely hope to be eventually proven wrong, but i suspect my karma's about to plummet rollercoaster style, in which case: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Re:Apple ads

[hey!]

It's been 5 years or so. And still most of the Apple ads represent one or at most two objects (frequently human actors it seems), which are speaking about how much PC-s suck,

This is known in the trade as "shooting fish in a barrel."

People are aware that computers are these cool, amazing machines. As is written in the Book of Jobs: "bicycles for the mind The problem is that (Windows) PCs do suck. It's like having to work with a manic depressive coworker who drains your energy by making you deal with his weird issues all the time.

You can't sell a computer that you want people to love without reminding them that (Windows) PCs suck, because over time people begin to accept that suckiness is the way computers are supposed to be. You can't change the world without first upsetting the unconscious accomodations people have made to the status quo. The world if full of unreasonable things people get accustomed to; it's only when they are reminded they have a choice that they remember how ridiculous things are.

The reason people "don't buy" Macs is the same reason people "don't buy" BMW cars. There are cheaper alternatives that fill their needs. Yes, the Mac Mini is pretty cheap, but beige boxes are even cheaper. If they could buy the mini at $299, more people would buy them. But cheapness is a game Apple can't win at, and doesn't want to play. BMW could sell more cars if it had an offering to set against the Ford Focus, but that would turn them from BMW into a smaller, less competitive Ford. BMW sells luxury cars, Apple sells luxury computers. And Apple has the luxury of not needing to advertise much if at all to its existing customers; most of them are not going to switch to a PC unless they are forced to be circumstances that no advertising could alter. What Apple needs is to find the people who are disatisfied with their old PC jaloppy and can be interested in trading up.