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Microsoft Uses "I'm a PC" Character In New Ads
arcticstoat writes to tell us that in the wake of their largely unsuccessful Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign Microsoft is setting their sights directly on recent Apple ads by featuring the "I'm a PC" character in their new advertising campaign. "He then follows this with another phrase, such as 'and I've been made into a stereotype' before the advert shifts to a range of people performing a diverse assortment of jobs, all of which also say they're a PC. Among those featured are astronaut Bernard Harris, as well as religious author Deepak Chopra and 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria. The ad also features a wide range of anonymous people, including a shark diver, a teacher and a guy with a beard."
Ads can at times be entertaining, but they are definitely not intended as entertainment.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Macs are PCs.
They're even the same damn processors now, you can run Windows on Macs and you can run OSX on, uh, not-Macs.
The most disgusting thing is the chauvinism from BOTH sides, the other operating systems don't exist, and if you're running a PC it must be running Microsoft Something. If you're running a Mac it must be running OS X.
False advertising is illegal, why isn't massively disseminating misinformation?
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
I saw the ad yesterday - they played the ad in my area during My Name is Earl on NBC.
Seems to say that while Apple is hyping their coolness, we're still getting a lot of things done for a lot of real people.
I'm a big tall mofo.
Microsoft just failed on an epic scale. They didn't take the time to understand the Apple ads, so now they're lashing back at thin air.
The purpose of John Hodgman was not to "stereotype" PC users. The purpose was to provide a boring image of PCs themselves through the comedy of John Hodgman. The idea was that the more artistic nature of Macs should appeal to users of all walks of life. Microsoft obviously didn't get that.
Mark my words: These ads will preach to the choir (the people who already hate the Mac commercials) but will do nothing to asuage those commericals. If anything, Microsoft has just drawn MORE attention to Apple.
Way to go, Microsoft.
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"David Webster, Microsoft general manager of brand and marketing strategy, says Microsoft had "to take back the PC brand and tell the truth about it." referring to Microsoft's latest ad that hits back at the Apple commercials. Like -- they own the PC brand now? OK -- We can admire someone who stands up for himself succinctly when picked on. Apple will never be able to use the "I'm a PC" line again now. However, in this ad Microsoft tries to appropriate the commons with a sinister attempt to hijack the PC. They want to confuse general public into thinking -- if it doesn't have Windows, it's not a PC. Is there an appropriate way to inform the public that the PC is an open platform that can run many other operating systems?
Oh, the world is better served by not even having to contemplate the celebrity sex tape involving Bill Gates.
And, really, if the richest man in the world isn't a celebrity by now, something has gone wrong. Most people know exactly who he is, he doesn't need any help in being made famous. Certainly not 'in flagrante', as it were.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I think its a clever stab at the mac Commercials and i think its way better than the Seinfeld commercials they were going with. It Highlights that People who use PCs are a wide variety of types of users and are not all middle aged accountants.
I thought it was great and immensely better than the Bill and Jerry ads. They one-upped Apple in one fell swoop, breaking the I'm a cool twenty-something versus the nerdy looking guy message that Apple has been pushing. The message was PCs are more than just a inflexible box and more than the cool, hip....they do it all. Whether or not you agree with the statement the commercial is making, I think the move by Microsoft was brilliant.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
Back in the day, before the rise of Linux, I remember reading analysts who said that the entire history of the retail computer industry consisted of everyone imitating Apple. Windows 95 was the biggest example, but there have been others. This is one.
Oh, I should be clear -- the reason they don't catch more flak for this imitation is that they don't do all that good a job at it. I haven't seen the ad yet, but I suspect this is also consistent.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
Are you kidding? I think the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" series of ads is utterly brilliant.
Having been around long enough to witness about 15 years or so of pain and suffering from Microsoft stuff, I think that they really do a good job of highlighting the (perceived) differences between the two platforms.
For some reason, the Mac ads just seem to resonate with people. Certainly, some of the early ones about "we can have fun making spreadsheets and charts" when the Mac was talking about video editing and the like showed the very basic differences in what the machines come equipped to do. I remember back in the day having a windows machine, and, out of the box, it wasn't capable of anything but notepad, solitaire, and a calculator. When I first set up a linux box I had dev tools, games, editors, and a whole fleet of stuff that was actually useful.
You may not like the ads, but I see them as sheer genius.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
horrible? I thought it was really *really* good. Not only does it help kill the stereotype, but makes the Mac commercials much less effective as well.
Exactly! I'm getting "only on Slashdot" feelings about some comments here. :-S
I'm planning for my first MacBook in a near future, but despite this, I have to commend Microsoft for getting a commercial out that makes Apple's predecessor look plain silly/stupid/childish in comparison.
OK, to be perectly clear here -- what message Microsoft is trying to get across, is that Microsoft doesn't cater to a "kind" of user, like Apple implies in their commercial, but try to cater for all kinds. And in the process of doing so, doesn't try to smear other software platforms, but just speaks for themselves.
I think the commercial is great, especially compared to the offensive-defensive Apple commercial.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
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That was kind of my take. They started doing the "I'm a PC" thing, but it got old. I think the commercial would work better in a 30s version than the 60s version I saw.
But the more I thought about the ad as I watched it, the more it occured to me they were all sheep. I figure the vast majority of them (especially those who looked like they were in other, poorer countries) probably hadn't tried a Windows alternative for more than 5 minutes. They just don't know there are better options, or for many that there even are other options.
It actually made the commercial less "blah" and more "a tiny bit sad".
I enjoyed the Seinfeld ads much more. I wanted to see what the next one would be. This is a generic Microsoft marketing "let's make an ad" ad. The tag line ("I'm a PC too") is meaningless. It doesn't do anything to make me want a PC more. And it certainly is about "breaking boundaries with Windows" which is what this whole campaign is supposed to be about.
I'm going to put this one up there with the DotBomb era commercials like "Everyone is looking for the new economy, but it's not through a door, it's through a Window".
Congratulations. You've poked fun at a popular set of commercials, made yourself seem less relevant by just copying off that (since obviously you didn't think your last idea was working). You're more Microsoft that ever. Isn't that exactly what you were trying to avoid?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I believe you're the one not getting it. The purpose of this advertisement is not to carefully interpret the Apple ad, but to override it with their own interpretation. I think they did a fair job at this.
"No one likes working in a hamster wheel, and your shop smells of cedar shavings from here." - TaleSpinner
My father was in advertising, and he always spoke, as if it were a rule, that you NEVER respond to criticism in an advertisement, only assert your strengths. The fact that Microsoft feels cornered like this speaks volumes. While they're still the 800lb gorilla, they perceive Apple as a real threat now.
"I'm a PC ... and I run Ubuntu."
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I'm a linux fan myself and I liked the ads. Much better than the Seinfield ads.
The bit at the end with the guy in the shark cage "I'm a PC, and I'm scared" was pretty good.
(Disclaimer: I recently built a Vista gaming rigs and have been extremely pleased)
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
better != good. But I liked this one better too.
Of Code And Men
Except that they just acknowledged their existence. If Apple ignores these ads (which they will because they have no "punch") Microsoft will end up looking petty. And again, Microsoft is drawing attention to Apple's ads. Don't draw attention to your opponent unless he has managed to grab sufficient mind-share to demand a response! Microsoft still has the lead in the market, so there is no way they can "win" back attention they haven't lost. All they can do is continue to lose ground.
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They were exactly what MS needed - some humanization. They were sly. Some people here didn't seem to get or like them (well, they hated them for the most part) - but they made sense. They were the kind of ads you put out when you're winning, which, make no mistake, MS is.
This new ad is just sad, they seem like a desperate response. The kind of commercial you do when you're losing. That's not the vibe they need.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
Are you kidding? I think the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" series of ads is utterly brilliant.
No, I'm not kidding. Not only do they tend to be, at best, completely blown out of proportion (I swear I recall seeing one or two that were outright false)... they're insulting and demeaning to the very users they're trying to convert. I constantly wonder what idiot came up with an ad that insults your potential customers, and why he isn't fired yet.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Mod parent up.
I can't stand Windows. The operating system is a piece of crap.
However, this commercial is not. It's the old "positive/negative" campaigning option. Like it or not, Mac's ads are more or less 'negative' campaigning in that they specifically single out the opponent and paint it in a negative light. Note that the "Mac guy" never seems to do a whole lot, just stand there and be way 'cooler' than the "PC guy" while the latter bitches about how awful he is.
This Microsoft ad accepts that complaint, and without responding in kind, instead shows that being forced into a box - the activity Mac users in theory would rail against - is exactly the sort of thing those commercials are trying to do to PC users, who aren't so easily described.
I'm not going to go out and buy Vista. But I do think this commercial is a major success for their ad department.
I love how you are doing the advertising for Apple now!!! Like Microsoft is really making people love them with those ads that really don't say anything about their OS.
The purpose of John Hodgman was not to "stereotype" PC users. The purpose was to provide a boring image of PCs themselves through the comedy of John Hodgman.
Right. John Hodgman does not represent a stereotypical PC user and Justin Long is not intended to represent a stereotypical Mac user. If you pay any attention to the ad, you'll realize that they represent personifications of a Mac and a PC. So that's why they say "I'm a Mac," and "I'm a PC."
So no, Apple isn't stereotyping PC users by saying that they're boring generic business geeks. They're making fun of other PC manufacturers for making boring generic business computers. Microsoft's ad people are either retarded or they're banking on the commercial-watching public to have paid little attention to the Mac/PC ads.
So I think you're right. Those people who paid any attention to those ads will probably see Microsoft's new ads and think, "Wow they're dumb. They missed the point." But for people who haven't paid a lot of attention to those Mac/PC ads, these ads will call more attention to the Mac/PC ads. If anything, by acknowledging those Mac/PC ads, Microsoft is raising Apple up (in terms of consumer psychology) to their equal and competitor, whereas part of what keeps people afraid of switching is the idea that Macs are a fad that shouldn't be taken seriously.
All in all, I don't think this is a great idea for an ad campaign.
The problem is that Windows is now what you use if you have no choice. It is the default.
Very few people really want to use Windows. They use it because it runs the programs they need and is cheap. Why is Vista doing so bad? Because it doesn't add anything to that the average Windows user cares about. It doesn't run more software than XP and it isn't cheaper.
That is the problem Microsoft has now. Apple is a choice so people look forward to change. Windows is the default. If Windows users wanted change they would buy a Mac or install Linux.
What windows users want is XP fixed and secure but running just as fast on their current hardware.
Biggest mistake that I think Microsoft made? Not back porting DX10 to XP. Nobody is going to write a DX10 only game as long as a large percentage of users can not play it. Heck just make it run just a little faster under Vista than XP and people would have a reason to move.
Second biggest mistake. Not making Vista 64 bit only. Just my opinion but I would bet that vendors would come out with Vista versions of their software just so they could use the 64bit mode.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
After years working on Windows & OSX I have found they both fail, both have their quirks, both are imperfect.
PCs are cheaper, Macs are prettier
Take your pick
People are people
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
One of the biggest comments about the "I'm a mac" ads is that they are snobby and condescending. People relate more to "PC" than to "Mac". Many people see "Mac" as an elitist. I am betting that someone at Microsoft's advertising company saw the articles about it and created this campaign. It is a positive campaign where "PC" is made in to the everyman, someone just like the viewer.
Everyone who is thinking this is "also-ran" or "johnny come lately" is missing the forest for the trees. This campaign is a very good idea and uses the negative perception of the "I'm a mac" ads against Apple.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
What are you talking about? I thought it was *devastating* to Apple. Primarily because it's true. The vast majority of people -- and yes, creative people -- use PCs. The Mac ads have always been arrogant and condescending, and this is a major "up yours" to Apple.
And the tagline is absolutely perfect: "Life Without Walls". That's a direct hit on the most obnoxious characteristic of the Apple world -- the lock-in.
These ads are as good as the other ones were bad, and they were REALLY bad.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
In the Apple ads, the actors portrayed the computers, not their users. It wasn't saying that PC users are overweight, balding old farts in suits, but that PC's themselves are that boring.
I use a Mac (as well as a Windows box), but I would no sooner say, "I'm a Mac" than I would, "I'm a Pepper."
Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
I think you're missing the point of what AKAImBatman. He's not a stereotype of PC *users*. He is a personification of the PC itself. His character is supposed to be the computer, not the person using the computer.
So the commercial isn't saying PC users are boring and inept, but rather that most computers are boring and inept, and people using boring and inept users should switch to using computers that are cool, sleek, and competent.
So yeah, I guess that's a stereotype, but a stereotype about Dell computers and HP computers, and not about the people who use them. That's why the end of Microsoft's commercial, "I'm a PC, and a human being" is retarded. No, you're not a PC at all, you just happen to use one.
Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, I don't quite get it, but that don't mean much. :-P
Are they actually demeaning and insulting to the potential customers? I don't perceive it as that -- they're not saying "PC users are doody heads", they're highlighting some of the more frustrating elements that people running Windows have encountered over the years. To me, it seems more like commiseration "we feel your pain" not "you suck". Heck, one of the current ads highlights how a "Mac Guru" will be happy to help you migrate your files from Windows to the Mac. They don't seem (IMO) to actually attempt to say anything at all about the people who use the machines, other than they might have experienced frustration.
I mean, in an industry where "reboot the computer" is referred to as the "Microsoft Patch", and people have just taken for granted that strange stuff happens sometimes, I must admit I haven't always found the Windows experience to be quite what you'd call rewarding. (However, I will also say that my home machine running XP has been the single most stable Windows-based PC I've ever used.)
Anyway, advertising is one of those things that you either like a campaign, or you don't. The ones someone dislikes, they usually do so quite vehemently. Not a whole lot of point in debating who is more right on this one. :-P
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Disclaimer: I'm a heavy Linux user. I tend to just viscerally hate MS' OSes.
The purpose of John Hodgman was not to "stereotype" PC users. The purpose was to provide a boring image of PCs themselves through the comedy of John Hodgman. The idea was that the more artistic nature of Macs should appeal to users of all walks of life.
Well, that was their intent. But in the end, I find John's carrecter more likeable. All mis-adventure that happens to him are funny, but in the end he tends to generate empathy. He looks like a caracter who is generally unlucky. He's not peculiarly snug. He ends up being likeable, partly because he comes as the underdog.
On the other side there's the "mac" character which too much radiate a "I'm so cool, I'm so hip !" style which makes him unnerving. After the few first couple of ads, I mostly only want to punch him in the face.
I think by having a comedy actor impersonate the PC in a humorous way backfired at least with some viewers like me. They should have gone with a pompous condescending bastard kind of character.
Microsoft obviously didn't get that. Mark my words: These ads will preach to the choir (the people who already hate the Mac commercials) but will do nothing to asuage those commericals.
Well on the other hand :
They aren't as awful as the previous ads. The Bill Gates series mentioned yesterday were the dumbest thing I've ever seen (what the hell are they trying to say ? seems just random snips taken out of some brainless trash-tv reality show)
The "Wow series" wasn't any brilliant either. In fact, it almost backfired : trying to present Vista as latest "world wonder" just sounds arrogant, and with all these stupid people staying O-faced in front of their machine it just begs that someone edits the video and puts a system explosion (a _litteral_ explosion) as a metaphor for this crappy software. Oh so exploitable.
Or maybe I'm just allergic to any ad that make outrageous claims that their product is the coolest.
This latest ads, are kind of cute. They don't try to pretend microsoft's product are the panacea. Just metaphorically show that its simply something everybody ends up using.
(For the ad. For the reality of computing platforms I find this is bullshit. Anyway the currently most pervasive platform are ARM chips running embed OS - among which Linux happens to gain market share - "I'm a ARM running Symbian or Linux and I'm even in your phone, your TV and your washing machine" even if unpractically too long would have been way much more realistic and the only really relevant platform for the following couple years. But's my technical opinion. The ads look nice per se).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
This is originally what I liked about the ad campaign. You had "Mac" and "PC", and the two were comparring features.
Mac would describe a feature that it had, and then PC would be embarrased it couldn't do something similiar.
Then over the course of a year or so, it turned into a smear campaign. Mac would say "I'm a Mac." and then the PC guy would ramble on for about 30 second about Vista not working properly.
The campaign stopped being clever at this point.
The point's been made before, but the Mac vs. PC ads, especially the UK ones (Mitchell and Webb was not good casting) make PC look like some lovable nerd who's just trying to get by (Crashy Time Calmomile) in spite of his problems, something mildy-but-not-terminally frustrated PC users can relate to. Mac spends literally all of his ad time either highlighting PC's flaws or saying how great he is. The PC is the everyman, while Mac is this rather aloof thing which sounds great but won't shut up about how great it is. That PC gets to set up all the humour and Mac is the straight man just reinforces it. I'm not sure that MS really want to fight that pair of stereotypes too strongly. If they emphasise that PCs are these boxes used by all these amazingly varied special people, they may wind up telling people that Mac is for the everyman, which is exactly what Apple seems to have failed at on their desktop line.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
As a slashdot reader, I do not believe that I am the intended target of these ads. Therefore I'm not going to pass judgment so much as critque them. For starters I laughed at the first few "I'm a Mac" commercials and have yet to laugh at any of the PC commercials. I have to question the wisdom of using celebrities. The minute i see a spice girl in your commercial, I instantly wonder how much she's being paid and that starts me wondering how much all the other people in your commercial are being paid. This highlights an important distinction between the Apple and Microsoft commercials. Apple's commercials are about their products. The supposed superiority of Apple's products are emphasized in a humorous way. The Microsoft commercials are about who Microsoft can pay to say how good their products are. Microsoft never addresses the issues raised in Apple's commercials.
We willna be fooled again!
Personally I don't think you can draw a hard line between whether the adverts stereotyped the computers or their users. For me, the latter seemed quite obvious and I have no doubt that many others took things the same way. After all - the Apple ads played extensively from the very start on what the computers were used for. If that's not an extension of their users then you'll be hard pushed to find something that is.
And for anyone who ever used to watch the British TV show in which these characters appeared together (before they turned into computers), the message is even further removed from what Apple presumably intend, because the character that became the Apple was an absolute arsehole to people.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Parody? Maybe. But not effective parody.
One thing I've lawyers say about defamation suits is that they're usually not worth bringing. It isn't just the burden of proof, it's that the publicity reinforces the defamation in the public eye. Parody might work here, but you've got to shred the Apple message, not riff off of it. You can't be timid with parody; there's no half way. Half way parody only reinforces what you want to fight.
So Microsoft can't just bring the "I'm a PC" character out to defend himself, because that just reinforces the negative message. "I am not a boring nerd!" ** yawn **. They have to bring out the "I am a Mac" guy out and make him look like a total ass. Make him a pretentious airhead who spends all his time talking about how cool he is while "I am a PC" is quietly getting the job done.
Of course, they can't do that without insulting everybody who has ever bought a Mac -- possibly even insulting everyone who's bought any Apple product. Given the number of iPods out there, that's a lot of people.
Real parody is not nice. That makes it hard to pull it off when people think you're a vicious asshole. Maybe that was the point of the Seinfeld/Gates thing; to give MS a more aw-shucks regular guy image before they pulled out their sharp knives. Looks like they pulled out their sharp knife just long enough for a self-inflicted wound.
The ad would be better just showing all the cool things you can do with a Windows PC, which is the point. They still need a hook, but it couldn't be hard to come up with a better one than, "You probably think I'm boring, but I'm not as boring as you think."
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The purpose of John Hodgman was not to "stereotype" PC users
Answered with ...
They have the slightly overweight balding guy in an old suit being a PC, and you don't think that's stereotyping?
You realize you missed his point entirely? The Apple commercials were NEVER talking about identifying with the users. It's personifying the OS itself, as if it has a personality. You're making the same mistake Bill Gates made about this whole thing.
Instead consider this... Bill Gates is supposed to have Aspergers, Steve Jobs is diagnosed with ADHD. Now imagine what sort of differences that could have on their OS philosophies. Notice the OS characters in the Apple commercials sort of correspond to those? Microsoft is intentionally distorting the message to make it look like Apple was stereotyping PC users, trying to make people take personal offense at a characterization of an Operating System.
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It's called parody, they are trying to imitate the guy from the Apple commercials.
So two years after Apple brought out those commercials, Microsoft makes "parodies" that are lamer than any parodies that could be found on YouTube 2 years ago? Hey, that tells a lot about Microsoft in relation to Apple.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
As much as I hate to admit it, Microsoft does have a point. I've always hated the Mac/PC commercials, because they never make any real point-- they only throw about strawmen and half-truth non-sequesters. And the entire run of commercials is just one big, poorly-veiled attack ad on Windows. "A PC is gray, therefore ever PC in the world runs slow. Hahahah. Buy a Mac.".
At the very least, the Microsoft ads are trying to define the PC market as more than a homogeneous lump of "gray box that can only do spreadsheets and smells like Grandpa". Unfortunately, at that point they just fall into the same trap as the PC/Mac commercials. A PC isn't a Windows box (as much as Apple or Microsoft would love to have people believe). They're still trying to tie usage of their operating system (which is really what they're selling-- they're trying to sell you on Vista) to a specific demographic of people (ie: "normal" people). They can't sell it on the OS's benefits, or value, or usability, or usefulness-- or anything, for that matter. So they're trying to use peer pressure.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
They're not an exact opposite of the Apple ads, but that's not the intent. They're not trying to say, "Apple has it wrong." They're trying to say "People need to open their minds and not have a right or wrong argument". I think it's great. And yes, I have owned and used Mac, Linux, and Windows machines. Operating systems need to stop being argued like a religion, I'm getting tired of it.
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
Justin: Well, none of course!
Safari? iTunes? iPods? iPhones?
So they paid Seinfeld $10 million for two ads?
This commercial is a MUCH better response to Apple's ads. It's professional and doesn't leave you sitting there thinking "what the FUCK is going on here?"
Life is rarely fair. Cherish the moments when there is a right answer.
Put down the joystick and realize there is a whole real world out there. Many people just want to use the internet period. There is a whole baby boomer generation that is connected. They use computers to stay in touch ,get news and order things online. We have people 70+ years using computers every single day. The common consensus is apple is easier. That they don't have nearly as many problems, and they are "high quality". I'm not going to debate this. Its a perception and with people perception is 90% truth. There is a huge market for a device that keeps them doing what they are and "just works". Microsoft rarely puts out anything the just works. In many cases a PC works great for about 6 months to a year then it gets slower, and slower and sloooooowwwwweeer. And when they ask their local "expert" there is one in every family, they get reinstall your OS, check for viruses/malware, buy a new PC in that order. Lately a lot have just said screw it and buy a MAC. My company president came to me and said "its time to get a new laptop, this time get me a Mac. My wife loves hers." You can also play any game on a Mac as you can a PC. The idea of running windows in a protected virtual machine is appealing to many. Apple is a hardware company, lest you forget.
Um... what British TV show where the characters appeared together? There was a British sitcom where anthropomorphized computers were roommates or something? Sounds like a show I want to watch.
Anyway, no, it's quite clear that Justin Long is a Macintosh computer and John Hodgeman is a PC. When the "Mac" character gets Time Machine, there are lots of copies of him. John Hodgeman crashes and needs to be repaired. They talk about Mac and PC getting sold and having features.
Now, you can argue that lots of people misunderstand the ads and think that they're supposed to be a Mac user and a PC user. However, if you think they are users and not the machines themselves, then you either aren't paying attention or don't understand concepts like "metaphor".
You're overlooking a critical point: The "I'm a Mac" marketing campaign is implicitly playing on identification. In a consumer society, we are what we buy. "Clothes make the man", "What does your car say about you", etc.
(See also SUVs in the context of psychological compensating behaviors.)
Yeah, you bet, the actors in the Apple commercials are saying that they're walking-talking personifications of the respective systems. But, undeniably, they also typify the stereotypes of the respective user communities, and therefore they are an extension of the time-honored "all the cool people use Macs, all PC users are incompetent dullards" marketing spin.
This is the angle Microsoft's campaign is playing against. Their ad is asking the viewer "Aren't you offended that Apple is calling you a colorless incompetent tool? You should be, because look at the variety of cool interesting people who use PCs! You're a member of the cool set, not that mock-turtleneck phoney!"
This is simply stating we have a large market share, which everyone already knows, or doesn't care
The Microsoft ad is saying that they have a diverse market share. Again, attempting to counter Apple's elitist spin. (Yeah, a large market share, too; that's an appeal to belonging. That is very powerful in herd animals like Consumers.)
I'm not a PC or a Mac or a Linux I'm a person who sometimes uses a computer, and runs programs on the computer, It runs an operating system - If I am aware of the operating system at all it is because it has got in my way
Car Analogy : I got in my car and drove to work - which make of car was it : I don't know, and don't care, it got me here anyway....
Congratulations on your immunity to marketing psychology. You are in such a trivially-small minority compared to the Consumer Herd that you don't even register. Advertisers aren't talking to you. They will score big if their wiles work on a small percentage of the remaining 99.999% of money-spending mass of humanity.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I think the ad was pretty good... much better than the Seinfeld ones, anyway.
Right... which is exactly how they want you to feel. They released crappy ads that you hated and followed them up with ads which are only marginally better and you're calling them pretty good. This ad campaign is no mistake. What I'm about to say is so obvious I can't believe I'm actually taking the time to do so: Microsoft releases Vista... it's crap and you hate it... Next comes Windows 7 which will be marginally better crap and you'll love it... all because you're taking to the TV based training so well... This all just reminded me of something totally unrelated. I fed Microsoft Mojave into the internet anagram server recently ...
Jive moms fart coo...
Do you REALLY think this extrapolation is accidental?
That the advert company that makes the adds has said "Wow, here is a shocker, people are thinking wwe're actually doing this to have them think you'll be a cooler person if you run a Mac. Crazy. We didn't expect this!
Most likely, because advertisers would NEVER use sex appeal / cool facor to sell a product or use an unappealing actor to represent the consumer of another product. Never.
Gimme a fucking break.
Right, because some PCs have beards, have rings, and are scared while shark-diving.
The ads end with some guy saying, "I'm a PC, and a human being. Not a human doing; not a human thinking. A human being." And you're arguing that he's an anthropomorphized computer?
The Mac Ads, as well as portraying the different "characters" of the respective operating systems, each contained a different message about what Macs do.
Eg, they run MS Office, you can share files with a PC, you don't have to worry about viruses, they come with a built in iSight camera, etc.
These Windows ads don't tell you anything about the benefits of PCs. I guess it is trying to say that there as a much wider range of software available for all sorts of different tasks, but it doesn't really spell it out to the viewer.
You can't be timid with parody; there's no half way. Half way parody only reinforces what you want to fight.
A good example of this is the whole controversy with the New Yorker cover showing the Obamas and their "terrorist fist jab". It was meant to parody the right-wing characterization of Michelle and Barack Obama by showing an absurd representation of them. The problem was, the representation wasn't any more absurd that the right-wing characterization, and so people weren't sure how serious the cover was.
If you're going to parody something, you have to be far more absurd than the original. Otherwise, it's just not parody.
I agree. The ads are well-done and a decent reply to the Apple ones. They play on the Apple pseudo-elitism that seems to be the reason so many people like the Mac ads and many others dislike them nicely, basically saying "glam or no glam the truth is that Windows PCs are used to do just about anything".
I don't even use Windows myself BTW.
George Constanza should be the I'm a PC guy.
They're trying to say "People need to open their minds and not have a right or wrong argument". I think it's great.
by "people need to open thir minds", you actually meant "other ways? what other ways? everyone's pc!", right?
seriously, i find those ads are quite nice, since they involve people... but i can't see any openness in presenting a lot of people with the same idea, and not saying anything else...
openness would be having pc/mac guys working together... maybe the pc guy could "win" somehow, but openness involves multiple ideas, not just one.
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know." -- Mark Twain
you can do anything on the PC that you can do on the Mac.
Huh, I can modify and compile my own Windows kernel? ... no? Can I boot up my PC into a target disk mode that lets other computers access it as an external hard drive via firewire? ... no? Mount a ZFS filesystem? ...no? Write programs that use a POSIX API? ... only if I use a fairly slow, buggy middle layer?
There are lots of things you can do in OS X that you can't do in Windows. Should I list more?
And no, you can't "work faster" on the Mac than you can on Windows
I find it interesting that you are familiar with my work habits and needs and know exactly how fast I can work in different operating systems. Are you a stalker?
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
And the tagline is absolutely perfect: "Life Without Walls". That's a direct hit on the most obnoxious characteristic of the Apple world -- the lock-in.
Yeah, sure, because there's no lock-in with Windows.</sarcasm>
And what lock-in is there with Apple, really? If you want to use their OS, you have to use it on their computer.... and that's pretty much it. You're free to not use their OS, and mostly Apple uses open protocols and formats. They even use a lot of open source software, and release some of their own software under open source licenses.
People who complain about Apple's lock-in with Macintoshes (in comparison to Windows, at least) generally have very little idea of what they're talking about. You can present some arguments about iTunes DRM, but Windows Media DRM locks you in just as badly to devices and operating systems that support that DRM. Apple, on the other hand, at least uses AAC and H264, which means they're using real standards when you drop the DRM out.</tangential rant>
If I was living a life without walls, then why would I need Windows?
hmmm...
- Is the subject of many books and articles.
- Has high priests who speak in a way that the masses don't understand.
- Doesn't have any effect on 99% of what you do.
In what way are operating systems not like religions?
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
I thought "Life Without Walls" was kinda strange given it's a Microsoft Windows ad. If you don't have walls, you don't need Windows.
> you can do anything on the PC that you can do on the Mac.
Huh, I can modify and compile my own Windows kernel? ... no? Can I boot up my PC into a target disk mode that lets other computers access it as an external hard drive via firewire? ... no? Mount a ZFS filesystem? ...no? Write programs that use a POSIX API? ... only if I use a fairly slow, buggy middle layer?
That's a surprising laundry list of features completely irrelevant to the needs of an average desktop computer user, and not a very accurate one.
And still, there remains that one thing that PC users can do that Mac users can't: shut the fuck up.
Yeah, when I saw that, lock-in wasn't even the sort of walls that came to mind. I've got a fair number of devices running some variant of Windows, and what strikes me about them is how the most recent offerings have gone from "Where do you want to go today?" to "You can't get there from here."
Vista Business can't play DVDs. You need third-party software. Vista Premium can't use a scanner or a fax modem. You need third-party software. And it can't ever join a domain. Vista Basic won't let you use Aero, so you can't change the freaking color scheme. XP can't play DX10 games, including Halo 2, which is only a DX10 game so that it won't work on XP. OEM versions freak out if you upgrade too much, and you have to call for permission to keep using it. And the 64-bit versions of everything are an entire separate product, so upgrade enough and you're buying another copy regardless.
Office is subdivided a dozen different ways, with no apparent rhyme or reason. If you want a word processor, a spreadsheet and a desktop publishing app, you either buy them separately or get the "Small Business" suite that costs $450 because it also has PowerPoint, Outlook and Accounting bundled in.
The Windows on my phone arbitrarily doesn't have Pocket Office. It syncs with Outlook, but not with the PIM apps included with Vista. And even if you have Outlook, it doesn't have a notepad, so it doesn't sync Outlook notes.
Then there's their products whose entire raison d'être is to keep you from using your software. There's PlaysForSure, which was unceremoniously dropped in favor of the Zune's new DRM. They turned the servers off, so the computer your PlaysForSure music is on now is the last one it'll ever be on. And there's Windows Genuine Advantage, literally designed to make your OS break if it suspects you shouldn't be running it, or even just at the whims of the authentication servers.
And the worst of it is, that's just first-party stuff. All barriers Microsoft has erected between their own freaking products. Life without walls, indeed.
Arguing which OS is "the best" is like arguing about which color is "the best". "Quality" is just yet another way of saying "the best".
"But this one goes to 11!"
I have only one hope in all this, and that is that Ellen Feiss gets to be in another ad. And I kind of want that ad to be her saying "I'm a PC! Ooh, that paper looks really good!" and then eating the paper.
With love,
ari_j
President, Ellen Feiss Fan Club*
* - Okay, maybe not. But our official team name for programming competitions back in college when the ad was playing on TV was the Ellen Feiss Fan Club. It was a simpler time. It was a happier time.
I don't think that would be understood very well. When I started my company 4 years ago, I made it all Mac, having experienced the inefficiency of my previous employer's PC-based business first hand.
I'm not married to Apple. I'll switch to Linux if need be, but it would take more than a $300 M ad campaign to make me consider a switch to Windows.
Bert
You're kidding, right? I find it unbelievable that Microsoft were so stupid as to feel compelled to acknowledge the existence of a series of ads by a rival. The Apple ads have proven to be very popular, and Microsoft has only called attention to them again, and worst of all, in a "Me Too!" fashion, merely reinforcing the popular perception that Redmond doesn't have an original idea all their own. It says something about how insecure Microsoft feels about their own brand, that they're reduced to playing defense. And make no mistake, when a company their size starts playing defense, it's sending the message to the public that they believe that they're being hurt by their rival.
This is something that's always baffled me: in what way are the Apple ads "arrogant and condescending"? I've even heard Justin Long's "Mac" characterized as such, yet in all the commercials, he's nothing but friendly and considerate. This has always sounded like sour-grapes to me; everyone I've spoken with about the ads (almost all of them XP users) find them amusing, and have said that they like both characters. When asked specifically about the tone of the ads, no one has mentioned any negative message; when asked in particular if they found the ads or the Mac character arrogant or condescending in any way, or if there was any undertone of meanness, they all said no. In fact, many of them told me that the ads portrayed their experiences with Windows PC's fairly accurately.
As opposed to the sweetness and light of Microsoft? Now you're sounded like an angry Windows fanboy.
The vast majority of people -- and yes, creative people -- use PCs.
I hate it when that phrase is used "creative people". Its generally a term used by artist-types to make themselves feel elite, implying that other people are not creative.
The truth being is that engineers have to be more creative because our work is measured by the exacting standards of nature and of mathematics. We're creative at a level that those people cannot begin to comprehend, and they know it.
I'm a PC and a Linux. The Ad is excellent and its refreshing to see that Microsoft doesn't need to rely on negativity to sell its product. Keep 'em coming Microsoft.