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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.
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?
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.
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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.
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 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.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
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.
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.
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
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.
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 ]
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."
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
> 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.