Punk, or Not a Punk? Update: Punked!
Ad Purporting To Be For Dell Features Strange Choice of Pitchman

I still think I'm being punked, but it seems (superficially) to check out.

Update: Commenters are more certain I'm being punked. Now that I step back, I can't believe I thought maybe it was real.

Punked!!!! God I'm so dumb.

"Oh good" writes:

"this is fake, domain name is not owned by dell and the "photographer" doesn't seem to exist other than on his own website."

Dave writes:

If you go to the URL at the end of the vid:

http://www.dell.com/takeyourownpath

You'll see Clayton Sotos is not listed there. This looks like a satire of the videos on that page.

If you search google:

["clayton sotos" site:dell.com]

You'll get zero hits

So they mocked up the trade dress to parody a Dell ad, and made up this guy.

Okay, I was Punked, hardcore.

You got me.

Sorry, Dell!

I am now looking back at this wondering how the hell for one second I even imagined this was possibly real.

....

If the branding on this website is to be believed (and it probably shouldn't be), Dell is pushing a "Visual Innovators" ad series, focusing on photographers and videographers who use Dell computers for their work.

The guy they feature here, a Clayton Sotos, speaks vaguely about capturing "moments" and "clouds" and "natural acts," and is show testing various fine particulates for their capacity to fly in the wind.

What's he actually photographing?

Well I'd like to not SPOIL it for you but I have to to give you the CONTENT WARNING: He's photographing fat guys farting. The powders he's testing are for purposes of illustrating the fart-cloud.

You see some partial, sidal, fat-guy-ass nudity. And clouds of powder wafted by fart-wind. Gale-force farts. Neth'easters, if you will.

Really, Dell?

I know viral is the thing, but the viral message I take from this is that Dell is the computer for fat-guy fart fetishists.

If this is a spoof -- if this guy is invented -- I'ma tellin' ya, ya didn't underscore the spoof nature of it at all. It seems... real. (Edit: Or not.)

posted by Ace at 03:09 PM

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