T-Mobile officially breaks out Carly’s leather-clad alter ego in new ad

T-Mobile has, indeed, done what it promised yesterday and unleashed spokeswoman Carly’s “edgy, tech-savvy, and spirited” alter ego. In a new commercial, Carly plumbs her massive, stand-alone closet for anything but another pink dress, then changes into black-and-magenta leathers and leaves her eerily vast and empty house on a Ducati motorcycle, which “symbolizes the speed and capabilities” of T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. The ad promises changes for T-Mobile, but so far the only concrete news is a “Test Drive” page that will let you compare different networks; it doesn’t appear to have launched at this time.

As a few people pointed out yesterday, T-Mobile is following Verizon to some extent, trying to set itself apart as tough and threatening (or as it puts it, “taking bold steps in the marketplace as a challenger brand.”) The implication that dress-wearing femme girls are less tech-savvy than those on motorcycles is a bit unfortunate, but we’ll be willing to let it slide if T-Mobile actually backs up this campaign with a better network and more phone selection soon.