Appearance in ads

Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft in 2008. The first commercial, co starring Jerry Seinfeld, is a 90 second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up on a discount shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes inside. The salesman is trying to sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big. As Gates is buying the shoes, he holds up his discount card, which uses a slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New Mexico in 1977 for a traffic violation.As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld asks Gates if he has melded his mind to other developers, after getting a Yes, he then asks if they are working on a way to make computers edible, again getting a Yes. Some say that this is an homage to Seinfelds own show about nothing (Seinfeld). In a second commercial in the series, Gates and Seinfeld are at the home of an average family trying to fit in with normal people.