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Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'
CWmike writes "Microsoft's $300-million ad campaign for Windows starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld launched Thursday with a long TV commercial almost entirely devoid of any talk of Windows, Microsoft or anything, really. With co-star Bill Gates, the scene is set in a shopping mall. Seinfeld, who did most of the talking, helps Gates buy a pair of shoes called the Conquistador. The commercial ends with Seinfeld asking Gates if Microsoft will "come out with something that makes our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we're working." Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative. The commercial ends (see video inside the story) with the Windows logo and the phrase 'Delicious.' Preston Gralla writes, 'I just saw Microsoft's much ballyhooed Jerry Seinfeld ad, and can say without equivocation it's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history. If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple."
Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'
Are you crazy? I found that ad effective & informative.
... starring a Microsoft shill & a racist.
I can't wait to get down to my local shoe store to try out a pair of "The Conquistador" although everyone knows they 'run tight.' I can't wait to finally have shoes I can wear in my shower!
Well, there goes my ability to watch any reruns of Seinfeld
I caught this ad on TV with my non-technical retail employed roommate. And, acknowledging my predisposition to the big evil, I turned and atonally inquired what he thought of the commercial. "What?" he replied, "I don't think when I watch commercials, I just watch them." My god, it's worse than I thought, normal people just might digest this!
My work here is dung.
... that it was kind of hilarious in a post-modern "we're Microsoft, what the fuck are we gonna do?" sort of way.
I did a half snicker at Jerry's comments about clothing and showering. And that laugh was a stretch.
I guess when you have the comedian from the "show about nothing", you'll get a "commercial about nothing".
Clearly the OP does not really understand what advertising is usually about. Most mass market advertising does not try to provide information, it is providing associations. It presents something enjoyable (here it is assumed that Seinfeld+Gates==Enjoyable) and then presents the branding that they want to be associated with that enjoyable feeling. The crazy part is that this works, and in a weird way can be suggested as actually improving the product. Since the next time the subject of the advertising uses/sees the product, they will subconsiously access that association with enjoyment ... therefore the product is more enjoyable as a result of the advertising.
I am not saying that this is a good thing, but it is how things work in the real world.
Now you can argue either way as to whether Seinfeld+Gates=Delicious ... I didn't actually watch the comercial myself ... but they might be reaching as far a transitive association all the way back to the Seinfeld show, which almost everyone agrees was enjoyable. In any case I don't think there was ever any intent to have actual informative content in the comercial ... they are just "building the brand".
See Seth Godin's book "All Marketers Are Liars"
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/
or a quick review of it here:
http://www.businesspundit.com/lying-marketing-and-perception/
Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
I did find it humorous that they used his mug shot for his photo on his membership(?) card for the shoe store.
I
They do nothing
Err, I mean we already saw this on Robot Chicken.
"If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple."
No matter how bad their promotion is they still sell a product. Actually, other companies sell their product for them.
[20:36] wwwdot/.dotorg
If I didn't know that it was Bill gates I would have had just about no idea what that commercial was about. It was pretty stupid and pointless in my opinion.
Thank god I can finally scratch that off my list of things to see before I die.
Careful What You Wish For....
Slashdot ... you win first prize. You just fell for, and greatly aided, Microsoft's viral marketing campaign.
If you ever watched Jerrys show, it was obvious there was "no point" I'm pretty sure this is how they were playing off this ad.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=seinfeld%20windows&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#
I'm... I don't know... um... WHAT THE FUCK? Intelligent response in maybe 15 minutes when I've recovered.
It's got everyone even remotely connected to technology talking about Microsoft.
I saw the commercial during the Giants game last night. To be honest, if it wasn't for the Microsoft logo at the end, i wouldn't even know what the commercial was for. To be honest I still don't know. I think it was for the shoe carnival store or whatever it was called. Sadly I don't think they have one around here.
I now want a delicious churro. Clearly they're coming out with Microsoft Churros. It's a logical step up from the X-Box... who doesn't snack while they play?
What? That wasn't the point of the ad? I can't imagine what else it would be.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
A large table dominates the room. Sleek metal chairs are located around the table, all of which sits on a raised platform above a large pool full of sharks. Various nervous looking henchmen sit in the chairs, watching their beloved leader. A squeaking whiny voice speaks:
Bill Gates (for it is he): Now, I've been thinking about our advertising, how we get the message out that Vista is the best operating system ever written, and I was watching TV last night.
Steve Ballmer: Oh, excellent my master! Excellent!
Steve chortles uncontrollably
Bill Gates: Shut up number 2. Now, I noticed two things. First of all, there is a hilarious comedian on the television called Jerry Seinfeld.
Various flunkies nod.
Number 8: Oh yes, he's very funny
Number 9: I agree my master. We were all talking about his hilarious show around our water cooler earlier today.
Number 5: Indeed. In my department, I couldn't get to the water cooler because of the number of people talking about his show. It is the funniest show on television. You are so right number one, you are...
Bill Gates sighs
Gates: Silence! Now, the other thing I noticed was a theme to many of the advertisements. Let me show you.
The table turns around, with the chairs parting to form a straight line parallel to and facing a giant unfolding screen. The lights dim, and an image appears on screen.
McCain: I'm John McCain, and I approve this message. Barack Obama says he's for the common man. But he's actually just a typical liberal elitist.
Obama: Poor people suck. I'm a big dofus. Look at me with my big car and fancy house.
McCain: Do you really want this person becoming President, or would you rather that a real American be in the White House?
The screen changes to show a new ad. This time the word "Hope" appears in big letters on the screen.
Obama: I know what it's like to be at the bottom. I grew up in a family so poor we used to have to live in a paper bag. Every morning, we used to have to get up before we went to bed, lick road clean, and every night our parents would beat us, bury us, and dance on our graves. But my opponent John McCain was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, listen to his real world experience:
McCain: Look at me, I'm an old person who doesn't even know how to use an Interweb. I have sixteen houses because I keep forgetting where they all are and so have to keep buying new ones to live in.
Obama: Do you really think that guy can relate to us? Do you really want him to become President? Vote for me, change you can believe in. I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.
The lights come back on and the table and chairs go back into position.
Gates: You see, I'm noticing a common theme. What the common people want is to know their leaders aren't elitist, whatever that means.
Number 17: Er, Mr Gates. I don't want to talk out of turn, but those are election ads, they're not trying to sell computer operating systems.
There is a deathly hush. Gates motions to Balmer:
Gates: Number 2...
Balmer picks up a chair. Number 17 gets up and starts to back away.
Number 17: Please! I meant no disrespect! I was just trying to help! No! Please!
Balmer coldly follows 17 and carefully aims the chair. Finally, with a single thrust of the arms, the chair is thrown. All four legblades hit 17 together. He staggers backwards, bleeding profusely, and falls off of the platform into the shark tank, screaming as he goes.
Gates: As I was saying. The people want to know that their leaders are not elitists, that we can relate to the comm
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I want my damn minute back!
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
"one of the most pointless ads in history" seems appropriate from the guy who starred in the self admittedly "Show about nothing" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjDnGBrhhaQ
It's an "Ad about Nothing"!
Aren't Macs personal computers too?
Aren't Macs using the same x86 architecture as PCs?
What's the difference between a Mac and PC besides the operating system?
The ad was a complete success. Can you believe that, after reading about it on Google News, I actually sought out and watched the commercial? Can you believe that right this very moment you are reading some unimportant commentary by someone whose opinion doesn't matter whatsoever about a TV commercial?
Score one for Microsoft.
Better known as 318230.
It wasn't like the first "I'm a Mac" was funny or anything... That was M$'s first one. Let's see a few more before we label the whole thing a bomb.
And please don't tell my friends I said anything that sounded like a defense of M$... I have a reputation to uphold!
A clever person solves a problem, A wise person avoids it. -Einstein
Really, I did find it quite funny. Bill Gates pulled off the role of straight man (with a few exceptions) much better than I imagined he would. Unfortunately, as another poster said, if it wasn't for the Windows logo at the end I wouldn't have known what product it was "selling".
If this had been a short comedy sketch for television, I'd give it an A. As an ad, and an answer to the "I'm a Mac" ads, I'd give it a D minus.
#DeleteChrome
I doubt that MS needs a company recognition commercial at this point, considering that they're on about 90% of all the desktops in the world. What ever happened to Seinfeld being witty or MS trying to establish Vista as a viable product? Is MS that conceded or aloof to not need a decent commercial? My.02
greed@All_Evils:~#
the cake is a lie :O
kinda like the really popular show that was on a while back.
Don't be so dense, people.
[...]it's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history.
Obviously this person has never seen any of Nike's commercials.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, and as a Youtube junkie, that's saying a lot. Seriously, how much cash did they blow on that stupid thing?
I'm gonna go try to find Paris Hilton insulting someone to wash the taste of pointlessness out of my brain.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I thought that Seinfeld was acting like he just smoked a whole bag full of weed and Gates was just annoyed with him.
I thought that meant he was receiving a "fax." Isn't that how that old joke goes?
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple."
Wait, I thought that was why they made Vista?
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
*Buys a box of Cake-dows Vista*
*Bakes in the oven*
*Pfffffffpppppppptttt!* Damn crashes...
*Serves Vista Pancakes*
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Sorry, but Bill Gates wiggling his rear does not sound the least bit "delicious" to me.
Please kill me.
I find it difficult to glean anything other than "enjoy eating Bill Gates' delicious posteriorly ejected waste product" from the ad (they forgot the "and die" part). Basically, if there is something deeper to this campaign, I don't want to know. One thing seems clear, they don't consider the computing experience and associated values to be very important to their target audience.
Do you honestly think that this pathetic commercial is more important to report on than...
- Apple banning a 'pull my finger' app on grounds that it would be 'of little use' to iPhone/iPod Touch users
http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/09/04/apple-rejecting-applications-based-on-limited-utility/
( as opposed to the Koi Pond, or the plurality of 'Flashlight' apps )
okay, yeah, it probably is.
I didn't hear all the dialog at first, so I thought this was showing Bill's "new job" working at a shoe store, vis a vis Al in Married With Children.
I thought this was hilarious, since I'd been wondering what Bill's new daily job would be.
But then I could hear the dialog, and it was kinda down hill from there.
Arrest photo was a nice touch though. Maybe the cash register should have been a Microsoft POS system, and he'd have to ask the store manager how to work it and get a BSOD. "It always does that, just reboot..". When he goes out to his car, he should have hopped into a parked bulldozer instead, and continuing to talk to Jerry while hot-wiring it..
These adds are just suppose to make people think that Microsoft knows the average Joe, that they are a approachable friendly company. Kinda like how Exon Mobile has those commercials to show their R&D in alternative energy aka "not placing all your eggs in one basket" The goal isn't to switch Mac or Linux people to Windows but keep Windows people on Windows. Most likely Seinfeld (a 1990s star during Microsoft PR heyday period, where they were considered to be the most innovative products out there, by many people) help bring back the feeling of the 1990's where running Windows was considered the cool thing to do, and running Mac or Unix was just prolonging the death of an obsolete platform, and Linux was just a Fad OS that will go away once Windows 95 is released.
It is kinda like see how good things use to be when Microsoft was your favorite OS.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
MS need not fold it's tent, they hold a market share that almost any company in any other industry would kill for... and while the ad may be crappy, so what? They really don't even need to advertise, people know who they are anyway and will likely keep buying MS for the forseable future. Like them or not, their brand recognition is huge.
lol - you guys are probably going to mod me down for my subject line. Cause you just can't deal... Anyway, I have been waiting to see the Jerry-Windows commercials and I can say. "WTF?" When I saw it last night I wasn't even sure I was watching a commercial. MS just can't seem to get advertising right. Use Jerry's wit and insight to elaborate on Vista's good qualities. Use his signature line "Did you ever...."
Microsoft's new ad was just like Windows - a few good bits, and loads of very expensive and pointless bits, made with parts that don't necessarily go together.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
after viewing Seinfeld's advertisements for MS-Vista i do not like Jerry Seinfeld anymore...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Bad commercials?
Yet another thing stolen from Mac.
we're not laughing with you; we're laughing at you.
Delicious, butt-wagging, Seinfeld, cheap shoe stores being abhorrent, poking fun at Mexicans...what do all these things have in common?
Look at your common PHB. Likes "delicious food" as opposed to what the Mac guy eats, probably raw food or wheat grass or something. Thinks butt-wagging and slapstick are funny. Probably laughs at Seinfeld re-runs. Is glad he doesn't shop at the cheap shoe store for athletic shoes, but probably gets his dress shoes there, because who can tell. Has Mexican neighbors, is uncomfortable knowing he's in the same class they are.
This ad is brilliantly tarteted as a sort of subconscious reminder that PHB doesn't have to be a Mac guy, darnit, and he's good enough. Microsoft is here to shove more Applebees cake down his throat.
I think we can all agree that it is nice to see the director of "The Star Wars Holiday Special" working again.
I jest, but how many of you are going to check the IMDb now?
Andrew Borntreger
Champion of cinematic disasters
We are all talking it about, right?
Jesus Christ, they paid money for that?
Yes, I am a smart ass; it's better than the alternative.
Television commercials for cars are mostly selling a feeling, and often display a stunt driver, driving fast, as the only car on the road. No facts or tech sheets required. Apparently, this type of marketing suggests that an operating systems is something a non-nerd might buy.
You notice at the end, Bill and Jerry go walking off into the sunset with a new pair of shoes.
Clearly, they met each other, liked each other, and are now going off on an adventure.
So what adventure comes next?
This reads like a comic book intro, and knowing Seinfeld, that's means we can probably expect adventures and arch-villains to follow.
Doesn't The Steve wear a lot of black?
Wow! Imagine Circus Shoes getting both Gates and Seinfeld to do a commercial for them!
I thought Jerry was going to work for Microsoft, but I must have misunderstood ;-)
What's the message? "Vista is hard, let's go shopping!"
I toldja, they shoulda gone with a tried and tested comedic genius. http://tinyurl.com/5c3r6y
http://rocknerd.co.uk
The Windows 7 version they're frantically working on to replace Vista will be released as Windows Conquistador. It'll run tight. (As in, like somebody whose blood alcohol level is way over the legal limit.)
-- Alastair
Apparently, this type of marketing suggests that an operating systems is something a non-nerd might buy.
Which is nonsense, right? Why would a non-nerd buy an operating system? He doesn't know how to install it, so what's he going to do, buy it so his cat can sit on it and lick its nuts?
I write sci-fi for metalheads
I do think that they want to lose the stigma that Vista is a bad product.
Not likely. I think there's a better chance of rehabilitating Hitler's image than there is of making Vista look good. (Oh, yeah, I went there.)
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Hey, didn't that look like the pic from when Bill got arrested for speeding?
In fact I think it was! I thought the commercial was kind of amusing, esp with that speeding pic in there. HAW HAW (Doesn't do anything to push product, but I guess they must not care about that)
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
They should do a soup nazi ad makeing fun of the lack of choice on mac hardware.
Can I get get a headless mac tower
MAC TOWER $2300!
Can I get a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB EXTRA $150.00
Can I get get a 15" laptop
15" LAPTOP $2000
Can I run mac osx on my custom build tower
NO MAC OS X FOR YOU NEXT!
Can I run mac osx on my dell
NO MAC OS X FOR YOU NEXT!
and so on.
OK, so Bill Gates is buying shoes but instead of getting advice from a trained professional he follows what he is told by some joker who just happens to be walking down the street. What does this say?
Apparently the shoes hold up well in water. I may have to get myself a pair since I do a fair amount of walking in the rain.
Please tell me this is designed to make me go "WTF" now, but that they have cleverly lined up additional ads in this series that will build on this to make some sort of series that actually talks about their product. Or themselves as a company. Or just about anything other than shoes as a non-metaphor.
'Cause right now, I'm asking "Why did you make this ad? Why did you spend millions of dollars to tell me this?"
(Unless they're just trying to say, "We're Microsoft. You know us already -- we don't have to tell you anything about ourselves. We trust that you'll buy our products because it's what you've always done." In which case... ::shrug::)
Although the commercial had nothing to do with Windows, I thought it was quite hilarious. I especially liked the part when Bill flashed his Shoe Circus club member card. Priceless.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I haven't even bothered to look at the ad yet, but I will. As for it being "pointless" or "ineffective" - are you all kidding? Dozens of nerds on Slashdot going on and on about it, telling their friend(s) too, and watching the video. Damn right it worked. And anyone who sees Bill Gates on TV and doesn't think "computers" is not their market anyway, as they are almost certainly dead.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Made me want to buy a pair of shoes. Wonder if they run Linux?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
But it's just that kind of silly advertising that American consumers just eat up.
Not happy with a simple poll, some jokster posted this to make sure we actually find out who has the worst fanboys ( I direct your attention to the first two winners ).
You are all officially repeats.
Too bad I didn't see the ad first or it might have changed my mind, right?
I actually found that ad hilarious. I like Bill Gates, I like Jerry Seinfeld, apparently I like pointless Microsoft commercials. Far more entertaining than yet another stupid 'Im a Mac' commercial. Yes, we get it. You are hip. Woo. That being said, I prefer to avoid commercials entirely, except for the Super Bowl of course.
I think the intent of the commercial is to poke fun at the Mac ads.
Commercials from both campaigns don't have a 'point', and involve a 'trendy' person having a bizarre conversation.
I imagine they're also hoping to capture Gates as being likable. (I seem to recall previously reading that audiences often preferred the MS guy in the Mac adverts.)
The commercial caused quite a stir. When it was released I got an email sent to a bunch of us at work with the video.
It's plastered all over news sites, and it's being talked about quite a bit. While the message told us a few important things:
- Bill gates wears leather shoes
- Seinfield wears cloths in the shower
- Seinfield makes a great shoe salesman
- Gates is a Platinum Circus shoe member
- Gates looks beat up, tired, chunky and old
- MS has gone into the cake business. Probably designing a cake/frosting mix that can be eaten at the keyboard without getting your fingers or keys sticky.
regardless of the confusing or lacking message the commercial brough to us it schieved the curiosity factor. People will wander into Bestbuy or Walmart, or quite comicaly a shoe store or bakery section of Shaws asking for Microsoft products.
I thought it was great. Microsoft just had it's "Screw it I'm Keith Hernandez" moment..
They just released an operating system that completely flopped and they are still doing fine. I guess they just figured, what the hell, let's do something even wackier
How long before someone mashes the Apple and Microsoft campaigns into a "who gives a fuck what operating system you use" type thing.
That commercial is like Windows in many ways:
- It costs a lot of money.
- Much of it is pointless.
- More than half the time it doesn't work.
Now if that doesn't describe Vista, then nothing does.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
It's an ad about nothing! In the next episode they'll debate whether a peanut is a pea or a nut.
Should have hired Kramer to yell racist obscenities.
I was at a bar drinking with a bunch of tech friends watching the Giants game. We couldn't hear the conversation but recognized it as the Seinfeld add right away. As an aside, man does Gates look old in that thing - like somebody's Grandfather. Anyway the add finished and we all looked at each other and said WTF?
If the add is trying to target young, tech savvy people, it failed miserably. In fact it had the opposite effect. Most of the crowd thought it was a desperate attempt to gain attention. And the choice of Seinfeld and Gates could not have been weirder.
If our group was any kind of a representative sample, the add was a colossal failure.
You know I found it weird that slashDot has not had a Microsoft bashing article in more than a few days. Clearly they found it weird as well so in a desperate search to bash Microsoft we get this story posted. How this qualifies for news, no one knows. It is obvious it was posted so fanbois can jiz.
But since slashDot did post I will comment on it:
1, Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'
Opinion shaping through headlines. slashDot does it all the time.
2, with a long TV commercial almost entirely devoid of any talk of Windows, Microsoft or anything, really
Ever seen a Nike commercial? Ever seen a Budweiser commercial?
3, and can say without equivocation it's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history
Seems to have worked to me. You are talking about it.
4, If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to
switch to Apple
Why is that?
Mod away, that is if you have any jiz left
Oh and have a good weekend.
I'll try anything once. Twice if it tastes good
Shopping for shoes is a metaphore for shopping for a computer.
Gates is trying a shoe that doesn't really fit, but there aren't any other sizes available (Mac). Fortunately, there are tons of other choices available (PC)...
So here it is... obligatory:
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In a cracked cup, an' all.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was right.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, 'e was.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Cardboard box?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Aye.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.
ALL: They won't!
...or just bad taste?
How many news articles do we have about television advertisement? Close to zero, except during the Superbowl.
Today, you posted a story about an advertisement. People here are clicking on the advertisement and are watching video. Their campaign seems to be working, even if it is an "Ad about nothing".
And it's just the first ad in the campaign. Just wait until Microsoft releases the sequel.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Don't look at that picture! It is worse than Goatse! Ze googles..........
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
"Nothing will convince me to switch to Vista!"
Ok, then we'll have commercials about nothing, brilliant!
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Interesting that when I first saw the parent post of this, it was marked insightful and now when I reply, it's marked Troll.
I can't say I enjoyed the show myself. I know it was hugely popular, I know a lot of people loved the show...it just didn't float my boat, so to speak. A couple of episodes I found enjoyable such as the marble rye episode.
The thing is, funny is relative. You either find something funny or you don't. My father never thought that the Monty Python I watched growing up was funny, but then I didn't find some of the stuff he liked funny either (he was much more of a joke/punch line kind of guy where I liked my humor to be a bit more layered and obscure).
What I do find funny is all the replies saying how stupid the parent post was for not liking Seinfeld. Not "ha-ha" funny, but still...
Featuring Jobs and Seinfeld, most of the people here would be lapping it up with a spoon.
After failing in their attempt to buy Yahoo!
This is Microsoft's way to announce that they intend to buy del.ic.us
Now's your chance to invest stock before the official announcement and make your fortune $$$.
Maybe we're supposed to feel sorry that BillG is "losing" development money on the development of Vista and now he has to buy discount shoes :).
And no, I'm not serious.
I will have you know that TV programming in Japan is quite different than anything you will find in the US, since I think that they give all the people who come up with the shows drugs for inspiration.
I was going to say they do that with US TV too. Except in that case the drug is cocaine and the only thing it inspires is crap TV as a means to get more money to get more cocaine...
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
In the Apple Ad the PC guy looks geeky, so he gives the face of MS / Bill Gates.
What they did by releasing this commercial is let us know that this (Bill Gates)
is the real face of MS and that he is really cheap while buying shoes.
Seinfeld is just there to distract us.
That was just bizarre. What ad agency came up with this flat-out weird commercial?
I was sure it wasn't going to work under Linux/Firefox, using Silverlight or something. But no, it's in Flash, like they want people to watch it.
the ability of an OS to perform to expectations has little to nothing to do with marketing drivel. especially when it comes to television ads--how are you supposed to explain an OS in 30 seconds anyway?
i'm not trying to defend vista (i still refuse to use it) or MS but at least they weren't slinging some "it just works" horseshit.
just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!
As this is obviously the launching point of a series of commercials, I'm actually curious as to what Gates and Seinfeld are going to do together. It had about as much useful and/or factual information as a mac ad does... which, is near to none. Its all about just being entertaining and then putting your name on it. Commercials don't have to give tech specs or reasons to buy it. Sprite had a commercial with a friggin' talking bottle of a fake sunny d bottle that scared a family to death. It had no factual information about Sprite, but to this day, I remember that commercial and it puts Sprite in a good light for me. I don't drink Sprite, but they at least put a good step forward. Thats all a commercial is. It's not supposed to MAKE you buy the product, its supposed to make you THINK about buying the product and put you in a positive mood while doing so. The only reason people don't like this commercial is because its Microsoft. If this were any other product that did this, it probably wouldn't even been a story... just another commercial on TV.
This is all just an evil plot by Seinfeld. Not only did he convince Microsoft to give him ten million bucks, he then convinced them that this would be a good campaign. Maybe Apple is slipping him some extra dough on the side.
Microsoft's $300-million ad campaign for Windows starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld
I'd ask for 300 million dollars too to staple my good name to the dogshit that is Vista.
If you quote this signature there'll be 72 copies of Windows ME waiting for you in Heaven.
You didn't expect something innovative, did you? I mean, the Apple ads, not to be one of those pestering fanboys like the poll showed, but the Apple ads speak to you in a manner that is humorous and informative, and you get the message. And you don't have to be some computer genius to get it. In fact, it targets people who are not some assembly-coding black magic gurus who grok the difference between a SLUB allocator and a SLAB allocator. They get across the message that using a "PC" (which has come to mean a computer running Windblows -- Linux/*BSD users call their computers a "box," not a PC) is the suxx0rz, while using a Mac is easy, fun, and gets what you want done plainly, simply, without any hassle. Everyone out there who isn't the aforementioned guru knows that using a PC means you sit around all day waiting for the hard drive to grind its platters into dust while looking at spam and popups, giving your personal information to thieves via spyware, getting your files deleted via viruses, and just plain having problems all the time. Those who use Macs know that despite the cute animations and graphical shit, they're still quick and mostly reliable, and being that they're based on the UNIX philosophy and run on billions of lines of F/OSS code (which many Mac users either don't know or don't care), the risk of the aforementioned malware is much reduced (which all Mac users know AND care about). For mortal lusers, it's a great thing; for *NIX lovers, it's *NIX, and for those that buy VMware or Parallels (or use Sun's virtual box although I'm not familiar with it except in knowing that it exists), a Mac can run any program for any OS, and it looks damn stylish doing it. On the other hand, a PC is the suxx0rz for mortal lusers. Yeah, using nLite, you can make Brick Walls XP SP2 install in such a manner that it is ALMOST a joy to use it (by changing ALL options to the opposite of their default), but most lusers buy a box with that thing preinstalled in such a manner that it's a burden rather than a tool. In many ways, you can compare Microsoft and Apple and come to a simple conclusion. That's left as an exercise for the reader.
McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
Or at least switch to Chiat-Day, Apple's firm, previously famous for airing the Mac 1984 ad ONCE, and letting the networks replay it for weeks.
I saw it last night, and I didn't even realize that it was a MS ad; I thought it might be for something else that Seinfeld has done. In any case, it was the least interesting ad since feminine hygiene products started appearing in commercials. Unless ad number 2 is much better, MS should fire their agency, fast.
I've read this and other discussions on the commercial and I think that most of us missed the joke.
Think about it... edible computers? That's STUPID... who would ever want a ... ooooohhhhh, an APPLE Computer! I get it.
It's just dissing on the name Apple. Also it's attempting to make us subconsciously associate food in relation to computers as absurd. After all how many times has Apple used themes such as "lickable" and "don't eat iPod shuffle" in their commercials? This is training us to reject that.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
If BillG and Seinfeld was going to do a commercial skit, just do it on one of the best scenes...
Billg as the Patron in SoupNazi's business, but as MacNazi.
"But I want windows programs on it..."
"NO MAC FOR YOU".
Of course, MacNazi looks exactly like Jobs...
Did anyone catch that his photo on the membership card was his old Arizona mugshot photo (arrested for speeding, IIRC).
That part did make me laugh.
I'm a 2000 man.
Don't get too hot and bothered, gents, they're clearly using a butt double.
I, too, was throughly unimpressed by the ad, but there is one thing they didn't do: Play Apple's mud slinging game.
I enjoy the "I'm a mac" ads -- they're just about the only commercials I'll intentionally watch -- but they're pretty aggressive. They blatantly, and actively attempt to belittle their competition. The latest two show "PC" resting on his laurels, and trying to deceive people into purchasing him -- both suggesting that "PC" doesn't have his users' best interests at heart.
This commercial doesn't do that at all. Some have speculated that was the goal: making it clear that they feel that they don't have to insult their competition. Whether they're just trying to win points for being the nice guy, or they're trying to suggest that they don't have to stoop to Apple's level because they're just that superior, I don't know.
This is going the way against "one size fits all". Microsoft's operating systems try to be compatible to a magnitude of hardware configurations in contrast to Apple forcing control over a very limited hardware range.
Microsoft's operating systems also come in different versions for different needs and budgets. The spot is supposed to make you think about exactly that point, without mentioning it specifically. It's against Apple's limited few sizes fit all dogma. I'm surprised that such few Slashdot readers have got the message yet. The spot was pretty clever, it makes people take about it what's it supposed to mean.
Sadly no commercial could make me switch back right now. Leopard is a fantastic platform to work with every day. I've never been more satisfied with a computing platform.
I find it appropriately ironic that 'without equivocation one of the worst ads in history' finds itself as a topic of discussion on the front page of one of the largest internet news sites in the world.
Yes, it's such a horrible ad that everyone is talking about it.
How dare they.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
..."Much Ad About Nothing"?
Do not trust this signature.
Damn misreading.
Anyone else remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry argues with his girlfriend about that Docker's commercial where they don't mention the pants, but they just stand there in the pants. Its all I could think of during the commercial, and the slight hint of hypocrisy if Seinfeld wrote that piece in the show and the commercial.
Gates looked totally embarrassed to be in that commercial and I can't blame him. I prefer PC's (but love the Mac vs PC ads) but that has got to be the worst commercial for ANYthing I've ever seen. What is wrong with some of these ad agencies these days? Its like they're living in some abstract reality thinking up totally stupid ideas and believe it's funny. Fire that company now. Fire Seinfeld if he had any part of it. I love Sein, but my god, he's gotten twisted in his old age if he wrote that.
The instant I heard affordable and heard talk about trying things on I thought, "I see, they are going to say that if you want Apple you have to pay a lot and only have one choice, no "sizes" or "configurations.""
That is somewhat in line with how a good portion of the people and I feel about Apple. Pay a premium to have limited options.
Is that where this is going?
You're all talking about it. That's the point of any advertising.
A lot of the comments here reflect the inwardly focused Geek world that thinks the ad is all about them or all for them. The ad was not intended to make people who visit Slashdot laugh, never intended to make people who visit here buy Vista or anything Microsoft. In fact, the ad bypasses Slashdot entirely. You might call it the Anti-Slashdot ad or the Slashdot-is-Irrelevant ad. In fact, the success of the ad is likely in inverse proportion to Slashdot's negative reactions. The more negative we are here, the more successful the ad.
The ad builds brand-awareness by using celebrity (just like OJ and Avis). It's targeted at consumers who buy PCs one at a time, not anybody in the industry. It shows Bill Gates making fun of himself--again. It's a 'show about nothing' with Seinfeld--again. It suggests the future will have even more friendly computers with whatever follows Vista. That's all it is supposed to do.
Think of it this way. Bill Gates is to Microsoft as the Clydsdales are to Budweiser. Instant brand recognition. When you see a Clydsdale ad, or even just a Clydsdale somewhere else, your brain thinks, "Budweiser." The more times your brain thinks 'Budweiser' the more likely it is that you'll pick up a six-pack of Budweiser next time you go shopping. With all the crazy beer names on the shelf in a bewildering array of attempted marketing fancy names, there's one I recognize: Budweiser. I'll take that.
So what if it's one of the worst beers out there on the market. It sells.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
When that guy from the TV station says "Wow, you actually made Steve Carell look like an asshole"
Seinfeld: We at Vandelay Industries just love Windows Vista Business!
. . . will show a black screen with the following phrase:
The cake is a lie.
Yep - a boring, middle of the road public figure shilling for a boring, middle of the road, operating system. It's an OS about - nothing!
I'm much more interested in seeing what OS Larry David or Frank Costanza would shill for.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
You make a good point, but this is the same company that a few years ago touted how many millions of dollars companies were saving by "switching" to Server 2003. All they were doing to save money was buying fewer faster, newer computers with 2003 on them instead of NT 4 or 2000. MS is not above "it just works" at all. They just didn't use it in this ad.
This is like those political ads that try to make us think some guy with huge incomes and power is "just like us". In the time it took to try on those shoes bill gates probably made enough money to buy the entire store, if not the chain.
That was hilarious! Don't you think? Or was I the only one who notices that Bill's club card (0:57) had his mug shot from when he was arrested on it?
I mean, come on! Who AREEEE these people?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Bill Gates shaking his butt.
Well, a Brit (Simon Fuller) came up with the *idol show.
Actually, I think many of you would be surprised how many of US TV program formats are actually owned by Endemol and similar companies.
what else could explain how this could be accepted as worth $10 to Seinfeld, how many millions to Gates and all that on top of what the ad agency is being paid.
Quick, put GPS tracking systems on them because they've totally lost it. Surely they are bound to just start wandering the halls.
We laughed quite loudly after the disgusting Gates butt shot.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Is Bill running for office, because other than making him seem human, that was just stupid. I agree with the other guy can I have my minute back.
We can put out crappy ads that make no sense and still own most of the market.
Sigh. True, too.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
...anti-dentite.
"Have you heard of some type of thing?" -- anon
Maybe I'm reading into it a bit too much, but I thought it made sense. I thought they intended the "Conquistador" shoe to be Vista, which, though initially perceived to be a poor fit, just needed some "breaking in" first (i.e. Vista Service Pack 1).
For $300m I can promise Microsoft that they will sell 1 million copies of Vista this year.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I think I missed the pitch. But I would like to try a churro now. Where do I get one of those?
The first ad doesn't need to convey any real information. I thought it was reasonably amusing.
I expect the meat is further down the road.
That said I don't really care about adverstising, but the 300 Million toward getting a better windows 7 out the door sooner.
I try to interpret the ad in this way: Jerry Seinfeld is Mac, Bill represents Microsoft. Mac is more knowledgeable, and Microsoft learned from Mac (see how Bill learned to bend the shoe as Jerry), but in the end, they walked out together, and Jerry asked that cool question (typical Mac), which means Mac not practical? Bill was quite down to earth, and warm -- Microsoft is not evil? Mac found Microsoft, gave the advice, and followed Microsoft out, without getting paid ... Vista is like that pair of shoes, they didn't fit well at the beginning, but if you bend it, work on it, it eventually will fit in just fine ... Ha Ha!
Remember, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
How does rank with the original Infiniti Rocks & Trees ads?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Apparently, every Slasdotter's raging hatred of all things Microsoft has also left them with no sense of humor. I thought it was funny as hell. I loved the ancient picture of him from the early 80's that was on his frequent buyer card. Cute and funny. And yes, about as purposeful as any other commercial... you people really need to lighten up.
I don't respond to AC's.
Oromyofunctional disorder, aka, Tongue Thrust. I like "tooth-talker" better, because if you are a tooth-talker, you have a hell of a time saying tooth-talker, which really brings out the tooth-talker in you.
If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
This is probably a series of ads. Each one will have the option to build on the previous installment - lots of Seinfeld-esque self-referential humor and inside jokes are possible in this sort of format. At the very least they can set up a final episode that is genuinely funny and makes the sale. ...
Or not. That was really bad.
Wow, people at slashdot don't like a microsoft ad? didn't see that coming. I personally thought it was pretty funny. And why does microsoft have to do attack ads against apple?
Remember those old BASF commercials? Kinda reminds me of those, where at the end I'm left wondering just what it is I'm supposed to buy. Shoes? Chips? Hula lessons?
If I didn't have absolutely NOTHING to do, I wouldn't be here.
mod me redundant, because its likely already here if not previously on /., but yeah, Seinfeld had a MAC on set...odd, no?
Seinfeld: "Hello, I'm a Mac user."
Gates: "And I have no sense of humor, or acting for that matter. But, I do have money."
Seinfeld: "Delicious"
But really, what about the Mohave commercials? We don't ever get to see the "new" OS that is in all reality Vista, and we don't know anything about these people. It can work for Hardee's and for Pizza Hut, but not for M$. What if you put someone who has actually used Vista, likely on a machine not up to spec to run it in its most, ugh, pure form, in a session where they can use the Vista setup as-seen-on-the-microsoft-bus, with top-notch hardware and settings pumped and yeah, you'd have an impressed person. Did they mention the price tag? The DRM? The hardware necessary to get the "Mohave" experience? I doubt it - I've "impressed" a number of friends with various Linux desktops because they "look neat," but it takes real use, day after day, to honestly gauge an OS.
But a thickburger? Now that is delicious.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
He was Bruce Campbell's literary agent. All else is epilogue.
Now go shred your cool card application — you have been pre-denied.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
Everyone here is talking about it. I guess that means I'm talking about it too, which means I should st%!@^(#$~NO CARRIER
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
This is intriguing. Are the study's methodology and results available anywhere?
I guess I am not the regular slashdotter. I found the add quite cute. It made me smile. It made Bill feel human in some odd way. And Jerry was Jerry. Felt a bit like a Seinfeld episode. Guess I am the crazy one.
in the parking garage for hours...
I don't know what good this commercial will do Microsoft but Hostess and Little Debbie could see their stock go up. I think I'm gonna go buy a box of Twinkies, brb...
"I reject your reality and substitue my own." ~ Adam Savage, Mythbuster extraordinaire.
Slashdot has posted something negative about Microsoft! The end is near!!
The question is, will it induce an impulse-buy of Vista? I think it won't: people have tasted the sweet taste of not-upgrading-immediately-to-the-latest-Windows, and survived. The economy is not great, and buying anything takes a wee bit more thinking.
It's a tough time for witty commercials, especially when the product they try to sell is Vista.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
In my opinion, the use of the term Conquistador is telling. The conquistadors killed more natives with their viruses than with their guns. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. I might also ad that throwing chairs will not help in this situation.
Say hello to my little sig.
Worst Ad Ever. LOL. There is now no doubt that Windows Vista and Office are way overpriced. If Microsoft has disposable cash for commercials like this, they are gouging more than the oil companies.
First, I think what a lot of people have missed here is something basic: The market. Microsoft is not selling their product to the same people that Apple is selling to. Microsoft has to please a lot more middle-aged corporate types, and a lot of common types. Even the place this ad premiered reflects that - NFL football game. Not the Oscars, MTV Music awards, American Idol - NFL football game. Domain of white guys.
Second, the point of the ad is not to advertise the product. Microsoft and their ad agency have probably done quite a bit of research and realized that the brand perception of Microsoft is mostly large, faceless, corporate machine. Insert 'evil' in there, if you'd like. The point of the ad is to put a human face on the company. "Oh look, Microsoft's founder has to buy shoes just like me!" Jerry's contribution is to be annoyingly quirky, which allows Bill to be tolerant and 'humor' Jerry. The whole ad is Bill playing along even though you suspect he thinks Jerry is quite odd (also making Bill look not-so-odd by comparison.)
The ad is effective for what Microsoft is trying to accomplish with it. Hell, even proving Bill isn't ACTUALLY equipped with a Borg eye is worth a few million.
paintball
The weakness of this particular ad is that it's trying too hard to be funny and it has very little to do with the actual product. It's just...well, weird. And not all that engaging.
There are lots of ads like this--you see the ad and you can't remember what it was for but you remember the "stunt."
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
CBC National News Radio here in Canada, just did a piece on the ad (at 6PM! the drive show). It was about the negative reception the ad was getting, but then they directed people to the MS site to read MS's explanation that the ad is just a teaser and to get people talking again. I wish my ads were 1/1000 as "ineffective". Watch for a lot more talk about what they'll do next.
... is throughout the Seinfeld TV series, one of the iconic elements of Jerry's apartment was the continual presence of a Macintosh in varying forms. The only item in his apartment that might have been far more recognizable is the Superman figurine on one the shelf in the background.
It's a really weird disconnect to see Seinfeld hanging out with Bill Gates in a shopping mall knowing this.
Besides, Batman was far cooler than Superman... so I guess this would make Bill seem cool by comparison.
8==8 Bones 8==8
That's absolutely true, but when you have 90% marketshare or whatever it is MS has, you are in the position of power. As others have pointed out, MS needs only to keep people from switching and their growth will be whatever the growth in the PC industry is. Apple needs to convince people that their OS is the "better" one, which means they need to steal market share from MS. So, they put out attack ads. I hate to say it, but it works for politicians quite well, why shouldn't it work for computers?
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
There are actually several kinds of ads. Some aim to be informative (notice of a sale for instance), whereas others are "brand" advertising that simply seek to make you aware of a certain product or company.
The first goal of brand advertising is that the viewer should remember the ad. Without that there is no point in it at all.
The second goal is that the viewer should remember the company or brand being advertised. Again--no point in it without that.
The third goal is that the ad become the subject of conversations (aka going viral). This extends your advertising dollar since other people spread it for free. And, some studies seem to indicate that you will be more receptive to the same ad if it is conveyed by your friend rather than viewed cold.
The fourth goal is that the ad creates a positive feeling about the product. It seems weird that this would be so low but it is honestly not that important from a brand advertising point of view. Of course you don't want to create or reinforce a negative opinion about the product or service, but that is a pretty low bar. As long as you don't do that, ads can be weird, pointless, or even unpleasant, just so long as they are memorable and chattable.
So by those criteria, with their first new ad Microsoft has scored very well on items 1, 2, and 3, and have not violated number 4. So far so good (we're all talking about it after all). I think later ads in the series will go harder for number 4.
[Note: here on /. we have no shortage of knowledge or memory of Microsoft, so we're not really the target audience. The random people in sports bars and watching TV at home are.]
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
It's Apples that are delicious. Windows are transparent.
War as we knew it was obsolete
Nothing could beat complete denial
- Emily Haines
I meant this as a joke, but I actually think the vista ad I created
http://algorithman.de/storage/new_vista_ad.jpg
will sell more vista copies than THIS piece of crap...
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
I'm no MS crony...but I didn't think it was nearly that bad. I, for one, realized that they're not trying to sell the MS product...but rather associate it with being fun and light-hearted. I know that MS has a history (habit?) of blatantly ripping things off - and most of you seem pretty surprised that it's not a direct rip off of the Apple/Mac commercials (I suppose I can't blame you there) - but I didn't expect some big punch to the face badass ad or something. Even if it was, most of you would hate it regardless...so, how is your opinion really THAT credible? Bias undermines a reasonable review.
I picked up all the jokes - and even thought the "leather" one was pretty funny and delivered well by Gates himself. I think a lot of you wanted it to say "Hey, you hate us - but we're sorry!" or something...which would be retarded anyways. Repairing their reputation is going to take more than one commercial, that's for sure...but this one isn't a bad first step.
I couldn't stop laughing after seeing that commercial!! Bill Gates in a circus (as if to say "it's all a big show, you know, being rich and famous is mainly useful for the press"), and if we want something nice and chewy, the answer is Bill Gates' ass! And Windows!
... only a flawless, well-designed OS can. I hope I'll live to see that. Aah, a nice delicious, bug-free Windows ... the stuff of dreams ...
(BTW, perhaps that meant to say "kiss my ass, I'm not working for Microsoft anymore, I spend my time shopping now.")
I'll give Gates a couple of smart points for doing that ad, but it certainly won't make me buy Windows now
I think it might just be the beginning of a $300,000,000 story arc, starring Seinfeld with cameo appearances made by Vista, and possibly MS Bob as the real comic relief.
Just a hunch really, I have nothing to back this up other than the initial add which would make No Fucking Sense otherwise.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
Looked like a fart to me.
For everyone that doesn't "get it", here's the explanation.
Microsoft has a giant turd called Vista, and everyone knows it (apparently even the higher ups at Microsoft). So any mention of Vista at this point will be a colossal mistake. With this ad, Microsoft is trying to change its image by being funny. People like funny. (I thought the ad was actually quite funny, and I don't even like Microsoft).
What this ad tells me is that Microsoft knows Vista is a failure, and they aren't going to change that. Microsoft has taken the longer term approach and is trying to change their image. Windows is now a commodity (in the broader definition of the word), and you don't sell commodities by telling people how great they are. You sell commodities through Brand, and Microsoft is trying to identify its brand with upbeat, funny, and not as serious. I doubt it's going to sell them more Vista machines, but if they keep it up it might save them from being seen as an also-ran.
AccountKiller
A commercial that lacks depth? Do you really know what a commercial is, and what the meaning of advertising is?
Whatever happened to Star Search?
Program Intellivision!
I'm pretty sure I'm dumber now from watching that..
I think its safe to say Microsoft has fallen flat on its face yet again. Bill Gates demeanor in the add is just off.. its not funny, and its main point is what? "Bill Gates is the smartest guy on the planet and he thinks hes rubbing off on people??" .. I don't know its just utterly confusing.
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
...are missing the bigger picture. This is ad #1 of a series that will unfold to tell a larger story about Vista. The ads are done by Crispin Porter + Bogusky who have developed some of the best and most memorable ads in the industry. I'm holding off judgement until ad #2 or 3 at the very least. Also remember that any publicity is good publicity and while it's no surprise people on Slashdot didn't like the ad (or aren't admitting it anyway - CP+B could have done the PC v Mac ads only in reverse and you guys would still be a bunch of haters) you are talking about and distributing the ad to potentially millions of internet viewers, many of whom might not be so rabid anti-ms weenies.
But Seinfeld is funny, right? A show about nothing, thats funny, right? Maybe back in the 90's, a.k.a. Last decade.
This is just like Microsoft, jumping on the bandwagon a little too late. TCP/IP, Internet browsing, web advertising, sound familiar anyone?
--
My parents went to Slashdot and all I got was this lousy sig.
We're talking Jerry Seinfeld here. I've never understood what anyone sees in that guy-- I've tried to sit through his stuff now and then and I don't find it the least bit funny. Obviously he appeals to something in people that I just don't have. I've found it most peculiar because I usually find most comedians who make it to TV funny. He seems like someone's little brother trying to be funny but just isn't quite bad enough to be funny-corny, funny-awful or even funny-pathetic, he's just boring.
And the bass-guitar punctuation of the show I find unusually annoying as well. I can't sit through that for more than a few moments, and can't change the channel or pop in a DVD fast enough. I guess I just don't have the Seinfeld gene.
No, I'm sorry, I don't think Larry David is enough to make Seinfeld funny. And I don't think his stand-up act is either. The only think I've ever found Seinfeld to be is utterly boring...
I used to think Jerry Seinfeld was a weak actor based on his TV performance, but he looks like Daniel Day Lewis compared to Bill Gates.
I think I've got it.
The Conquistador is Mojave (is... a Windows product currently available for you).
When you first see it in the store, it looks like it's going to be a great fit, but then when you walk around in it for a while, it might pinch a little. Not a lot, just enough to be subtly annoying.
But that's all okay, because Jerry Seinfeld is here to show us how to make it fit us. Because it's a good product, it just "runs tight".
(Um... yeah. I still don't want to think about how Gates' ass factors in...)
Wow. I haven't had that much trouble figuring out an ad since I saw Mike Gravel's campaign ad about "a rock".
This sounds like the funkiest ad since the "Infiniti" intro that David Horsey skewered so effectively in "Boomer's Song"... Stanley Doobie bought an "Absurditi" and ended up with a Bonsai plant that represented "the idea of the car".
Vista isn't an operating system... it's the *idea* of an operating system.
I thought it was funny...but then again I'm a Seinfeld fan. Of course I could do without Bill Gates shaking his ass at the end.
If people are blogging about a stupid TV commercial then the commercial itself is effective. This is a brand commercial so they don't need to talk about specific products or even the company. The commercial is designed to make people write and talk about the Microsoft brand and from what I can see it's working quite well.
If they have $300M to burn, perhaps they should have used that to make better cooler products. It just shows that they have too much money from too expensive products.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Microsoft has just obsoleted every single FAIL pic on bchan. No more fat kids, crashed cars, train wrecks, fat chicks falling off of horses, etc. Now when anyone wants to post FAIL, they're going to have to link to screencaps of this episode with a caption saying "Microsoft spent $300 million trying to convince you Vista doesn't suck instead of fixing it."
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Please, tell me I'm not the first on Slashdot to have noticed that reference.
Bad imagery: Bill Gates in the shower. Why!
I know I am probably in the minority here in hate-microsoft.central but I thought the ad was kinda funny. Normally Bill is kind of a dick I hear but I guess he can be funny too.
"it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple." ?!?!? what about ubuntu??
Damn.
I meant "dildo", not "douchebag".
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Mind you, I was told that by that "A.C." guy, and most of the rest of his response was inflammatory, but I have grown up a little after having received that beatdown.
The only conclusion I can draw from having watched the Jerry & Bill show, is either they're not marketing to me, so I'm free to go get another copy of Hardy Heron, or there must be another part to the commercial that we haven't seen yet and this first commercial is just warming us up to the dynamic between our two characters.
(Oops. It's after 11. I must go mindlessly buy everything they advertise on Adult Swim.)
I think this ad was just meant to be an introduction to the characters. They will release more of them, probably more to the point, and *I'm hoping* funnier.
It didn't really strike me as being imaginative though, and it did leave me a little bemused as to what it was about. I prefer the Apple ones personally ; )
... someone who can capture some of the original Seinfeld show:
Jerry: So, why do you think they used blue for the Windows Blue Screen of Death?
George: What? How the heck do I know? Weren't you buying shoes the other day with Bill Gates? Why didn't you ask?
Jerry: Hmm... I dunno. Could've been awkward, don't you think? I just met the guy; do I really want to mention Blue Screen of Death?
George: Why not? You're not on a date. If anyone knows, he knows. Ask him!
Jerry: I dunno...
George: Well, do you want to know or not? Ask him; he knows! He knows!
(Elaine enters)
Elaine: Who knows?
Jerry: The screen of death.
Elaine: Is that a new movie?
George: No, no, the screen of death. The blue one. You know, Windows.
Elaine: I would've preferred it in pink. Much more flattering.
George: You want a flattering screen of death? What the heck is that? I can't believe it.
(Kramer bursts in)
Kramer:: HWOAH!!! Jerry, you know what I heard? Bill Gates hired Newman to infiltrate this Linux thing and change it's screen of death to orange! It's supposed to be the most psychologically-disturbing color!
Elaine: What? Where did you hear that?
Kramer:: It's true!
Jerry: So, did it work?
Kramer:: I dunno. It seems no-one's gotten this Linux thing to crash.
"Jerry, tell me how my ass tastes."
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
...i liked it.
Yup, it's Microsoft.
'cept in ad number two, Gates will drop trou and take a giant steaming dump on an iPod.
I thought this was absolutely hilarious. I know this is being hated on just because it's a Microsoft ad. If Apple had done it we'd have people praising it up and down. It felt like I was watching an episode of Seinfeld but with a lot of jokes crammed together which I didn't mind.
Billy is the 'Conquistador' or literally 'the Conqueror.' Jerry is the bumbling public, ignorant and undirected. Jerry brings a sacrifice to the great conquistador to pay homage, gain an audience with the conqueror, and seek guidance.
After asking for enlightenment re new computers, Billy shakes (blech!) his butt. What this really means is 'All your dollars and business and computers are owned by me and now you can kiss my posterior.'
The reference to computers like cake is this. Billy's perception is that we the public are ignorant, living in a void, lacking any technical skill and understanding whatsoever. He, being a legend in his own mind, has great clarity of thought and can foresee the future of technology. And so he has created the greatest of all operating systems which is called Vista. BUT, we have scorned it. So now he figuratively says, 'Let them eat cake.' (I know HE doesn't actually say that, that's why it's figurative. It's the point in the... ah, dialog? ...and implies the true meaning within the message.
It was a brilliantly disguised slap in the face to all of us. And the bonus is that an incredibly mediocre 'comedian' (and I use that term loosely) gets $10 million for it. Hey Jerry, it's time to write your memoirs.
An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
They GOT the white football fan. You do NOT suck up to your existing customers, you just give them good deals but not fancy smancy ads because they are already buying your product.
You aim a new commercial campaign setup to change the opinion of a product with the group who needs its opinion changed. That is the mac-whores, the linux-nerds and the XP-lusers. The middle age white guy who uses Vista because that is what came with his dell doesn't need to be convinced to buy Vista.
No, I think this case is far simpler. Advertising companies don't sell products, they sell ads. This advertisement company sold itself to Microsoft and this ad was just the by-product of it. It has no more aim then to get money out of MS and if that is done by convincing Bill Gates that he should shake his ass to the camera with an tv-star who hasn't starred in years, then so be it.
This ad has an audience of one and its name is Gates.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I think it would have worked better with Ballmer and Seinfeld....
What's really funny about this? It's a $400 million marketing campaign and it's going to do the reverse of what's intended: it's going to turn people off of the brand. That's a waste of money.
I could do that for half as much. Microsoft: pay me $200m and I'll do nothing. People will be turned off by the brand. The product speaks for itself. See? You saved money!
Why not a Junior Mint? It's peppermint, it's chocolate, it's delicious!
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
Actually, this ad does work...
_
.
ÿ
About as well as their software.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Starring an asshole and a has been. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which one is which. Seinfeld was a mediocre comedian and his show was the most over-rated in the history of television.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3X6W0cHTw0
Everyone sees Microsoft as pure EVIL... and everyone associates Bill Gates with Microsoft in the same way Steve Jobs is related to Apple.... maybe more.
The ad portraits Bill Gates as a cool down to earth guy that goes and buys shoes where most people buys... and eats churros... and uses discount cards, etc etc....
So.... Bill Gates is attempting to portray an image of "the good humble guy".... in a world where Steve Jobs have this clear super ego and rock star status, and that image like he feeds himself from babies... it does quite make sense for me as the first step of a MS campaign.
By making Bill Gates look like a "cool guy" they make Microsoft look as a "cool company".... and while at that... they make Apple look as a bad company... because you know that the guy that attacks the good humble guy is just plain bad and evil...
And since the Apple campaign is based on attacking Windows defects, the outcome of this campaign will be either Apple looking evil... or forcing Apple to change their strategy and stop attacking MS.... on either case MS wins.... because by association people will stop looking at them as a BAD EVIL MONOPOLISTIC COMPANY... and will start perceiving them "the good guys" (even if they are not).
IMHO the ad is a hit, and is a good first step for a good campaign to develop.
Ads don't have to be good. They can be stupid, but as long as they get the audience's attention, they've done their job. And, judging from the article on /. and the reactions, it did.
This isn't an anti-mac ad, that's how you can't make sense of it... It's trying to tell you "if you buy cheap (Asus Eee, Aspire One etc), you get crap".
Buy cheap shoes, they don't fit. You get a stupid discount which everyone knows is so minute it doesn't matter in the long run. Buy cheap OS they don't work blah blah blah. IMO this ad is almost helping sell Macintosh, as it's even more expensive than Microsoft. But I don't think MS cares so much about Apple now because they shifted towards iPod, iPhone and other integrated products...
Epic Fail.
I cant recall any commercial ive ever seen that had one of the actors paying the other ...
or perhaps there's some 'higher level accounting
methodologies' that could be used to obfuscate the reality of it??
CPA's ...! Tell us !
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
Obviously the public is just too stupid to get the ad. That is why Microsoft had to explain it to everyone: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/featureStories.aspx?story=660dee9e-9606-4e77-843e-ed81d83c0bfe
Rubies and Pearls are not what you think.
Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative
I thought that was a very obvious 'NO'. To affirm to the question he should have 'nodded' his ass. But even a 49 billion dollar man does not have the muscles to do that.
Speak softly and carry a big churro.
Did you notice before the resemblance between the windows logo and the del.ico.us logo.
http://delicious.com/tag/gates
Mac (Masterful Apple Commercial) and I am a PC (Pointless Commercial)
haha, can you people that bash this ad see what your doing. Like it or not, the ad has this place buzzing. If you don't like the ad, stop writing about, that how Microsoft will tell if there ad was a success. They will look out on the internet, and see all these posts and articles about it, big success to Microsoft. You people amuse me.
Have you ever watched TV in other countries? If it's not reruns of old stuff from the US, It's knock-offs like [insert country here] Idol.
Sorry to burst your bubble but it is the other way around. The US shows are knock-offs of programs in the UK: The Office, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Weakest Link,... etc. Even American Idol started as 'Pop Idol' in the UK...although there are certain similarities to the US presidential election procedure so perhaps we could give you that one.
I liked the ad. It was what it was and actually made me think Microsoft might be more thoughtful, sensible, and creative than I thought they were. I'm an Apple user but might consider a non-Apple, in part based upon this ad.
I will never forgive them for Internet Explorer.
You should - why else do you think Firefox is so popular that companies have to make their websites work with it?
Most people can relate to that.
Many of you are way too uptight. It is a commercial for Heaven sakes.
Everybody is soooo anti-MS. Give them a brake. I never really understood what all the bitchin was about over Vista anyways. Works rock solid on my laptop.
Some of you are just anti everything. Sometimes, blind brand-loyalty is referred to as stupidity.
No, needs more cowbell.
This whole debate on one TV ad is really funny. We have hundreds of tech journalists and geeks trolling blogs providing their insightful commentary on whether the ad is effective or not. Ever pause to wonder whether (1) tech journalists or geeks are good judges of advertising and (2) whether tech journalists and geeks are the target audience for the ads? To me the ads are mildly funny but that's really not the point. The point, I'm guessing, is to show Microsoft's human side. Most consumers experience Microsoft only through products, features, technology. This is a way of showing a different side of the company. They're also telling a fairly subtle story around PC's as a device for the people...not the elites. I'm sure they'll go on to show some of the ways that people can use PC's to do interesting things and actually mention Windows. But if you wanted or expected them to start talking speeds and feeds then you're clearly missing the point. Regarding direct compete with Apple...Microsoft would have been really dumb to try to out-cool Apple. Nobody can do that. Apple is a company of cool people making products for people who are or who think they're cool. Apple produces great products that are used by a relatively small number of people. Microsoft is a company of geeks producing products that are used by the masses...hundreds of milliions or billions of people. Microsoft is not trying to be cool. They're trying to be relevant. Whether they'll be successful is hard to say.
At least with the Apple ads you knew what you were watching.... I really had no idea what I was looking at with this commercial.
I think what they meant with the add is the Future will be Chewable Delicious Apples.
ah to lazy to log in.
so just watched the ad and
WHAT THE HELL was that supposed to be ???
and yep I now want a churro
blast it all. tasty treat.
The choice of a discount shoestore is to send the message that Microsoft is "putting itself in people's shoes." You can see that the initial pair (old Windows) did not quite fit, yet the salesman (old Microsoft) gave an excuse ("they'll stretch.) Then Microsoft listened to expert opinion (Seinfeld the shoe expert), and the result was a 10 for the consumer. To recap, Jerry asked Microsoft to give a signal whether they'll ever listen to consumers' complaints, to which Bill gave a positive answer: with this ad and with the wiggling of his butt.
I had trouble finding a source, but wasn't Steve Jobs quoted years ago as wanting an OS interface that was "lickable" or something like that?
Now Microsoft is describing an OS experience as "delicious"?
Is this poking fun or is MS copying?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Jerry plays a quirky but insignificant role in this ad. The real message here is that which typifies the tremendous damage that MS has done to what could have been an enlightened and educational experience with the PC and in a larger sense the tech-world around us.
Instead, BG and minions have eviscerated the mind of our youth and taught them to sit mindlessly in front of "cute" little ads such as this one. The result is a population that neither knows nor cares about how or why anything gets done. All they care about is whether a product is "new" or when they push a virtual button do some pretty colors appear or does an mp3 start playing.
MS introduced personal computing to the world and then proceeded to bastardize, soil and defile all the hard work done by the real pioneers from whom they stole all this technology.
The ad does precisely what intended.....distract the user from the actual efficacy of the product and give them a "cutesy" mindless 90 seconds of ignorant bliss. The only thing the average PC user will remember is - cute ad, Windows Logo, something to eat and the word "future". In two days they will mysteriously find themselves at the nearest big box store swiping their Mastercard ....buying a new Vista PC.
Those who intentionally purchase Vista find themselves asking WTF they did that for.
Those who intentionally watch this commercial find themsevles asking WTF they did that for.
Its Microsoft saying, 'Look we're so big and have so much control that not only can we turn out a shitty operating system and people will buy it, but we can advertise it with an equally worthless commercial and sell a ton of copies thanks to the free press when everyone says the commercial was lame. Its nice to have morons for customers'
It's obvious that Jerry doesn't know anything about computers or he wouldn't be asking the question at the end, and if he knew about the utter crap in Vista he'd probably have refused to do the add campaign.
This whole campaign is idiotic and will provide lambs for the slaughter. They more they praise it the more people will poke holes and create even worse public impression.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
I didn't get it at all, but I still laughed. The funniest I've seen Seinfeld since... Seinfeld. :(
i anticipate a shortlived spike in abstenence.
I have a 19 year old son who saw the Gates/Seinfeld ad set in the shoe store. He watched the entire ad and asked me this question. "Is Bill Gates gay?" My son watched the ad and thought his question was valid. He was not making fun, he now has a question as to weatger Bill Gates is gay. I don't think that was the intended message.