Ellen Feiss
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Ellen Feiss (born 1987) became an Internet phenomenon after her 2002 Errol Morris-directed television commercial for Apple Computer's Switch campaign grew into a cult hit. In the commercial, the then-15-year-old American high school student, Feiss, complains that her father's Windows PC "was, like, bleep-bleep-bleep-bleep" and then "devoured" her school paper, so she "had to write it again", which was a "bummer".
Fueling the popularity of the advertisement was the speculation that Feiss was under the influence of illicit drugs during the filming of the commercial, due to her slurred speech and disoriented eyes. In the only interview she was to give, Feiss denied these claims in the Brown Daily Herald and noted that she was only taking Benadryl, an allergy medication with sedative properties. The effect of the Benadryl, together with exhaustion (she said that her ad was filmed at ten o'clock in the evening), allegedly produced the "druggie" behaviour. She also explained how she had come to appear in the commercial:
A second ad, in which Feiss talks about the virtues of her PowerBook G4, ending with an almost ecstatic "I really love my G4" was circulated extensively on the Internet.
Feiss' popularity grew to the point where she was offered appearances on both David Letterman's and Jay Leno's late night shows, both of which she turned down.
In September 2005, Feiss appeared in the French short film Bed and Breakfast due to be released during the summer of 2006. She plays one half of an American couple visiting France who are drawn into a dangerous fantasy world when they visit an old friend at his château.
External links
- [The original television commercial] on Google Video
- [ellenfeiss.net] (fan site)
- [Copy of Brown Daily Herald interview] (original is no longer available) (PDF)
- [Bed and Breakfast website] (in English and French)
- [Information on Bed and Breakfast] including a photograph
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