Star Power

Obviously, using celebrities to sell your items has been in practice since the dawn of advertising. "Real life testimonials" have also been popular, and it was only a matter of time until the two concepts were combined. The most evident of these are the Geico commercials where bizarre celebrities (Little Richard, Charo) are used to help regular customers tell their stories. I find these fairly enjoyable - it varies depending on the celebrity but overall they are pretty funny. The most recent addition to the crossover genre in Dell, which features a young guy talking about wanting a Dell computer. Burt Reynolds suddenly interrupts him, telling us he can't hear him because he isn't famous. Then Burt goes on the suggest using Dell's star power to convince people to buy you a Dell (Chuck Liddell as the "Hard Sell" and Brooke Burke as the "Soft Sell"). I like this commercial for several reasons - first it is amusing. Second, it isn't actually selling Dell; it assumes you already want one and so it is just telling you how to get someone to buy it for you. I think this assumption of desire serves well to subconciously plant the idea in people's heads that they want a Dell. And thirdly, who doesn't love a chance to see Burt Reynolds? (man, it's hard to type sarcastically)