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Dell's TV campaign starring Ben Curtis as Steven, the shaggy slacker who hyped desktops to hesitant buyers and sealed every spot with "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" For three years the line was a national catchphrase you couldn't escape.
The floppy-haired slacker singing cheerful songs about his ruined credit — stuck working a pirate-themed seafood restaurant, driving a beater, living with his in-laws. Experian's jingle campaign was catchy enough to get stuck in the whole country's head, and misleading enough that a 2009 law made the ads carry a disclaimer.
"So easy a caveman can do it" — and the sophisticated, deeply offended cavemen who kept overhearing it. The insurance ads that became a cultural in-joke, then flew too close to the sun as an actual ABC sitcom.
"Hello, I'm a Mac." "And I'm a PC." Two guys, a white void, thirty seconds of the suit losing to the hoodie. Apple's 2006–2009 campaign turned an operating-system rivalry into the most quotable sitcom on television — and made John Hodgman's crashing, virus-riddled PC the most lovable loser of the decade.