The one who looks like a gangster. He tells the nerdy guy “I told you to come alone”. He’s cute as hell, and looks familiar.
Anyone know who he is?
A link would help. 
Sorry. I googled a few pages and didn’t find the ad on-line.
I searched using “Verizon TV ads” and “Verizon wireless ads”.
It’s one of the “We’re your network” ads, with hundreds of people standing behind the “Can you hear me now?” guy.
I don’t know who he is, but just wanted to agree that he is indeed cute as hell.
I searched all over and couldn’t find anything either. I hope someone can answer. I agree, he’s really cute.
Oh good. It’s not just me.
He looks the perfect villain, doesn’t he? Like a less dangerous and young Rutger Hauer.
I’m not accustomed to looking forward to commercials!
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. I almost said in my last post, “I actually find myself hoping that commercial will come on while I’m watching TV.”
He’s my future baby - grandaddy!
Saw that add for the first time yesterday.
Can’t remember the last time I LOL at an ad!
“Do you guys work down by the docks?”
Rutger Hauer! Now I’m really curious!
I actually think about this ad whenever it comes on. Not only is that blond guy effective in the role of thug, but think about the choice that Verizon had to make to make the ad work without coming across as racist:
- if they went with an overt Mafia type - clearly the thug is meant to be a member of organized crime - they would be accused of using inappropriate stereotypes
- if they went with a person of color or with any form of accent - well, let’s not go there - they would clearly be accused of racism
so they went with a white, blond, accentless guy, because no one would think of accusing Verizon of racism by implying that a generic white guy is a thug.
And again, as far a commercials go, the guy does a good job. But as a marketing executive, I can’t help but think of the huge number of discussions that HAD to have gone on behind the scenes to get this right…
I third or fourth the notion that the blonde guy is Hottie McCute, and familiar. I know I’ve seen him somewhere.
The wimpy guy is familiar too, but I know where I’ve seen him - Kevin Sussman was in one of my favorite movies, Wet Hot American Summer. He’s the crazy kid at camp who caused the wind storm at the talent show. I also catch him doing guest-star roles in series shows, like Law & Order, etc.
Bah, political marketing PC mumbo jumbo. All we care about is…who’s the hottie… 
If it’s any help, that Verizon TV spot is titled “The Deal”. Adcritic.com has it online — for subscribers.
That’s some deep thinking.
The first time I saw the ad, before he spoke, I thought Hottie was gonna be British. He was wearing Bob Hoskins’ coat.
Are you serious? It’s typical reverse-PC tunnel vision. TV commercials have plenty examples of ethnic criminals. A soon as there’s a blonde white one, it’s suddenly “PC”.
I meant that it’s thinking more deeply about a commercial than most people would. It’s the thinking I was commenting on, not the conclusion. Although I can’t argue with the conclusion, since nobody knows what the ad writers were thinking.
Again, as a marketing executive at a company, let me assure you that companies, as a rule, spend a TON of time behind the scenes working this out. Remember Hitch the Will Smith movie where he is the date fixer and falls in love with Eva Mendes? There was some press about the fact that his love interest was a Latina - white would’ve run afoul of some folks who don’t like white/black interracial couples (stupid but true) and black might’ve led to a too-limited audience. So, after much analysis they decided to pair him up with a Hispanic actress. Gets a big “whatever” from me personally, but when I have to approve radio ads for my company, the whole issue of the vocal profile and accents of the voice actors can be a big issue…
When you do that for a living, it becomes hard to turn it off as a casual viewer, y’know? Kinda like as a guitar player, it is hard to listen to a song and not pick out whether they are playing a Les Paul or a Stratocaster or something…
Oh.
[upon review, noticing that WordMan never used the term “PC”, or anything like it. Tip toes away from thread.]