Was it Oscar Wilde or GBS who said, “There is nothing so provincial as a provincial celebrity”?
Well le voilà:
and Gawker is all over it:
Gladwell did the ad for charity, so we’re going to let it go this time, but, uh, wow, they really have a different idea of celebrity up north, don’t they? Also, we want to know if they used a hairstylist for the shoot or if that’s just the way he showed up.
raincoaster 
I saw this ad and thought it was subtle, but effective, attempting to reach the pseudo-intellectual audience (Gladwell does not write for scientists, his are pop-science for the masses).
the quoted comment from Gawker reminds me of the ugly, beer-bellied guys in the pub judging the women who would never talk to them anyway. This kind of elitist cynicism is tiring after awhile.
Oooooh, now who’s being snobbish?
The fact is, Gladwell’s not the purtiest Canadian you’ve ever seen. Harry Rosen’s no oil painting himself, but the purpose of this is to sell the clothes and quite frankly they just don’t look that good on him; not to mention they’re inauthentic. He usually wears chinos and some nondescript shirt that screams “dotcom.”
Well, I’m kind of relieved. I was beginning to think the only way you could get your picture in a Canadian newspaper was to sleep with Belinda Stronach.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!
DON’T SAY THAT!!!!!!!
Ow. RC, I heard that all the way over here!
(and I’m not really being a snob…I’m a geek. He’s a geek. I’m defending geeks at large from the aren’t-we-irreverant-and-witty repartee from the likes of Gawker.)
Geeks should never be models. That’s why, when Weird Al appears in his own videos, he does so ironically. Somehow I doubt Gladwell meant this ironically.