LOS ANGELES — High atop a leather massage throne, actress Betty White sits, casting a confused look around a makeshift “man cave.”
It’s a commercial stage, complete with a looming home entertainment system, remote-control drink carrier, all-terrain electric skateboard, Bluetooth tower speaker, electronic putting matt and Pac-Man arcade machine.
She’s shooting a holiday gadget-themed commercial (watch in full, above) for consumer electronics retail company Sharper Image, and if you ask, she’ll tell you that her absolute most favorite item in the den of technology is her white noise sound soother.
"It’s the one thing I’ve slept with the longest — if you know what I mean," she says with a grin.
But, unfortunately, that’s a lie. She probably doesn’t even know how to turn it on. Just like her throne.
“This chair is wonderful,” White says. “I love things that when you press buttons, you have no idea what'll happen.”
Oops.
“I’m not the best ad for technology because I don’t even use a cell phone,” White admits to Mashable. “A week could go by and I don’t even turn my television set on. And that’s terrible to admit when I’m in the business!”
White says it's much more interesting for her to observe the natural world than the tech world. But despite her aversion to tech, the actress, renowned for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, has amassed a massive fan base spanning multiple generations. Most unlikely in the bunch? The connected generation.
The multihyphenate has a Facebook topic page with more than 1.8 million Likes and an official Twitter profile (neither of which she operates) with a follower count just shy of 1 million — not to mention the dozens of parody accounts that attempt to emulate her sugary, off-her-rocker wit. In 2010, a glut of Facebook fans even petitioned for the actress to host Saturday Night Live.
“I’m trying to get as far away from [social media] as I can, if you must know,” she says, noting that she still doesn’t own a laptop. And she probably never will.
“Time is the problem,” White concedes. “Time is of the essence and there's just no time to stay focused on something like that. When I come home, I work a lot, and I've got stacks of mail. So I try to get through the necessities there if I can, but everything begins to stack up until I don't know what color my dining room table is.”
Although technology isn’t quite her shtick, she says that she loves playing with anything new that she hasn’t yet seen.
At 91 years old, she adds, it’s hard to find things you haven’t seen before.
White will turn 92 in January, standing strong as the Guinness World Record holder for “Longest TV Career for an Entertainer (Female),” with 74 years in the industry.
She’s continuing to do what she does best, currently starring in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland. So in a way, today — decked out in a leopard-print jumpsuit and hair and make-up — is just another day on the job.
Sharper Image is using the video ad, exclusive to Mashable, as a launching pad for its Black Friday promotions and sales. White follows past spokeswoman actress Megan Fox.
The premise for the shoot was “Girls Love Gadgets,” a sentiment White echoes, saying people always think of men loving tech — but girls love it, too (as they should).
“As the world turns, women are much more diversified than years past,” White says, encouraging not only women, but also members of her generation. “It’s fascinating to find all the new things that are coming along, and you don’t want to miss anything.”
Dari Marder, CMO of Iconix Brand Group, which owns Sharper Image, says he hopes that White’s participation will break through the Black Friday clutter.
In the tongue-in-cheek spot, White tells outrageous stories about how she acquired her “man cave” products. Sharper Image is offering free shipping from Nov. 18 to Dec. 16 on items over $99.
But don’t expect White to buy you anything. She says when she’s done, she’s going home to hit the mail waiting on her table. Old school.
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Image: Sharper Image