Dell Dude Thinks He Can Save the Company
Bring the Dell Dude back, says actor Ben Curtis.
Remember the Dell Dude? His name was Steven and portrayed by actor Ben Curtis in a Dell commercial advertising campaign during the early 2000s. He was a chipper college kid who informed perspective buyers about the perks of owning a Dell computer. When the customer was sold on the idea, Steven would spout "Dude, you're getting a Dell!"
That phrase would help Dell become a household name. It reportedly not only helped push PC sales on the consumer market, but then-19-year-old Curtis' acting career. The character and his catchphrase was effective and quite memorable to those who were old enough to sink $899 into a Pentium 4-based desktop.
But in 2003 Curtis was busted purchasing a bag of marijuana, and thus charged and arrested for criminal possession. News of the arrest quickly spread, but Dell insisted that the company still had a relationship with the actor. Shortly after the arrest, Curtis was fired over "unspecified violations of company policy," and the Dell Dude campaign was replaced with a new set of commercials about three Dell interns.
In recent weeks, there have been reports about Dell going private, and possibly even funded by Microsoft itself. Like other PC manufacturers and component suppliers in the PC sector, Dell is feeling a financial pinch in the pocket due to falling sales as consumers flock to tablets and smartphones. The company has dropped to the #3 PC company in America, and its life preserver is seemingly the growing enterprise sector.
But Curtis thinks the company should resurrect the 2000s icon instead, and he could be right. "I think they’re making a huge mistake and simply need to bring back the Dell Dude!" he said. "That’s it. That’s all they need to do. If they brought me back, their sales, stock and media presence would skyrocket. That is by FAR the smartest move they could make."
Curtis told Bloomberg in an email that America agrees with his statement, that Dell should bring back the goofy character to boost sales in the consumer market. Or maybe he just needs a job. "My fans are the ones that say and know this," he added. "I’m just the messenger."
It would be interesting to see the Dell Dude ten years later.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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aoneone Marijuana is a dangerous drug and we learned at school that it causes cancer, brain damage, and premature death. It's illegal for a reason so you are considered kind of a criminal now... This stuff has no purpose whatsoever on Earth.. TRUST me~Reply -
deksman aoneoneMarijuana is a dangerous drug and we learned at school that it causes cancer, brain damage, and premature death. It's illegal for a reason so you are considered kind of a criminal now... This stuff has no purpose whatsoever on Earth.. TRUST me~Reply
I hope you are joking.
Marijuana has anti-cancer properties (among others).
The only reason its illegal is because if used properly to actually help in medical treatments, it would probably eliminate large portions of pharma drugs (which have dangerous side-effects and only address the symptoms, but never the cause) that would cause large loss of profits.
Apart from that... I wouldn't touch DELL.
Its terribly overpriced for what it offers.
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robochump Damn, forgot about the Dell Dude. Was soooo annoying and obviously modeled his character after Bill of Bill and Ted...lol.Reply -
DroKing "Dell is feeling a financial pinch in the pocket due to falling sales as consumers flock to tablets and smartphones." Uhh more likely its because Dell's quality bottomed out.Reply -
Aoneone - you should REALLY do some research before you spout that garbage off. May I remind you that a 'legal' version of it is FDA approved and is 100% THC (active ingredient in MJ). The drug is called Marinol and it has already been directly responsible for killing a human being in less than 5 years of being on the market. MJ has NEVER directly caused a single human death... EVER!Reply
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A Bad Day deksmanI hope you are joking.Marijuana has anti-cancer properties (among others). The only reason its illegal is because if used properly to actually help in medical treatments, it would probably eliminate large portions of pharma drugs (which have dangerous side-effects and only address the symptoms, but never the cause) that would cause large loss of profits.Reply
The only issue is that it's a gateway drug to harder kinds, and we're doing a crappy job with legalizing marijuana. I'm a bit alarmed by the amount of marijuana stores popping up in the country.
I understand it has medical issues, but how many people actually need them?
How could they sustain huge amount of marijuana stores and make them profitable if most of the customers have legit reasons/prescription? -
Devoteicon Anything would be better than the shitty commercials that are currently running on Tv. So I say bring him back.Reply
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@A Bad Day - So is Tylenol a gateway drug?Reply
People that know nothing about MJ should NOT comment on what it does - especially if they have never actually used it before!