by , 9:00 AM EST, November 22nd, 2002
The Ellen Feiss Phenomenon (EFP) has been one of the most interesting developments in the Mac community in recent memory. Ms. Feiss was Apple's first, and so far only, superstar Switcher, appearing on the big screen during Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld New York, this past July. Though many people attending the keynote asked such things as "what's with the stoned chick?," many more people were soon asking questions like "where can I find out more about the stoned chick?" That was attested to when it was pointed out to TMO that Apple's Switch ad page for Ms. Feiss was the number one result at Google when searching for "stoned chick."
The Mac Observer has held since day one that Ms. Feiss was not stoned, mainly because it is obvious that the producers of the commercials wouldn't allow a minor to toke up before shooting, and Apple wouldn't air the commercial for the same reason. In an interview published by Post magazine, a weekly feature of Brown University's independent newspaper The Brown Daily Herald, Ms. Feiss sets the record straight on that. According to the interview, the first such interview we know of, seasonal allergies and an antihistamine were responsible for her appearance. Of course, there's more to the interview than that. Snippets from the Post magazine interview:
How did you get involved with the Apple switch campaign in the first place?
It's kind of a funny story. I'm friends with the son of the director, Errol Morris. I'm friends with his son Hamilton. I went with him after school, him and two of my friends. We didn't think we were going to make ads; we were just going to get the free set food. So we go there, and they're like, "We need a couple more people, so I guess the three of you can make ads." So we all made ads, and me and Hamilton's got picked. I had no idea I was going to do it until I got there.Is the story you told true?
Oh yeah, it's definitely true.What was the paper about?
It was about Chinatown, and the formation of Chinatowns in America. I lost like three pages of it; it was terrible. It was a really, really good paper.Do you have a favorite switch ad besides your own?
Probably Hamilton, just because I know him, and I saw him make it. It was so funny. Me and Hamilton have decided that our new nemesis is Jeremiah Cohick. He's our age, and he's trying to steal our limelight! We decided we don't like him. We're out to get him.Do you feel any connection to the Dell dude?
No, none whatsoever. That guy's a doofus. I get a lot of "What if you guys had kids?" And I'm like, "What if we had kids?" Why would you ask that? What a weird question. They'd probably be blond.
There is a lot more in the full interview, and we recommend it as a good read. You can see Ellen Feiss' Switch ad at Apple's Web site.
It's been amazing to see how much attention has been focused on Ms. Feiss, and it's good to see from the interview that she seems to be keeping everything in perspective. There's little doubt that a reference in the interview to some of her "fans" as being people who "don't have lives" will make some of those very same people lose interest, but that's probably not a bad thing for everyone concerned.
In the end, it will be interesting to see how long her 15 minutes lasts. With luck, it will be about as long as she wants it to.