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Byline: MICHAEL LEARMONTH

You wouldn't think Apple Computer would seek out a guy like David Carey to be the lone star in a TV commercial. Carey, publisher of The New Yorker, is the antithesis of slick - owlish glasses, unassuming delivery, nerdy appeal. Then again, "folksy charm" is what Apple seems to be going for in its new "Switch" ads.

You've probably seen the commercials: an everyday person (a project manager, a DJ) explains why he dumped his PC in favor of an Apple. "I have four small children," says Carey (below) in the commercial. "I love them dearly. I take lots of digital photographs. I travel a lot in my job, and now I bring my family with me, on my iBook."

So how did David Carey end up as one of these Regular Joes - especially in a commercial for one of The New Yorker's most visible advertisers?

According to Carey, it was just a piece of fan mail. He tries to send notes to clients whenever he has a positive experience with one of their products, he says. After buying an iBook in April, he wrote a note to Apple saying "how great it was, how much I enjoyed editing family movies on my weekly plane trips, and most important, how the iBook runs all Microsoft Word, Excel and Lotus Notes programs."

A few weeks later, Carey got a letter from longtime Apple ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, saying they were interviewing people who recently bought their first Mac for a new TV campaign. In all, 50 spots were filmed. "I was as surprised as anyone when I heard Steve Jobs liked my spot," he says.

The Apple "Switch" ads, like the "Think Different" campaign before it, are ubiquitous features in the pages of The New Yorker, but Carey insists that his appearance in the campaign wasn't linked to any ad buy. "It was more natural than that," he says. "I got an iBook, told the client how much I liked it, and voila! Six weeks later my mom sees me in the middle of 'The West Wing.'"

And despite his newfound celebrity, Carey - who will donate his residuals to the Make A Wish Foundation - isn't planning any future moonlighting gigs on Madison Avenue. "I've got a good day job," he says. "And I don't think SAG accepted me as a member."