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Critics Blast Apple's Cheesy New Ad Campaign
theodp writes "BetaBeat reports that people are pretty much falling over themselves to mock Apple's cheesy new Genius ad campaign, using zingers like 'intellectually cheap,' 'cringe-inducing,' 'borderline smarmy,' and — perhaps the unkindest cut of all — Microsoft-worthy — to describe them. Apple's trilogy-of-terror ad lineup includes Mayday ('An Apple Genius shows a fellow passenger how easy it is to make great home movies with iMovie. All before the tray tables are returned to their upright position.'), Labor Day ('An Apple Genius shows a soon-to-be father all the amazing things he can make with iPhoto.'), and Basically ('An Apple Genius points out there are a lot of things that separate a Mac from an ordinary computer, like great apps that come built in.'). The Atlantic's Jordan Weissmann says Steve Jobs would be appalled by the new ads, which certainly don't fare well in a head-to-head comparison with Think Different."
They even got their ad campaign freely detailed on Slashdot and by all those different critics. Can't be more successful than that.
Isn't an ad campaign basically a self-measuring practice? Either their sales will go up, or they wont. Why do we need pundits to weigh in on *everything* in the universe? Advertising these days is everywhere and constant, this is like someone criticizing Heinz for making lousy ketchup. Are people buying it? Yes? Then shut the f up and go find something worthwhile to debate.
From the Think Different Ad: "They push the human race forward."
By litigating so that their competitors can't sell what may end up being superior products! Yeaaaaaaahhhhhh! Keep pushing the human race forward Apple!
which is totally what she said
It is generating buzz. Bad or good, that is the goal of an ad campaign.
Look at the stupid GEICO commercials. "weeeeeeeeeeee....." that's as annoying as having satan slowly shove rusty nails through your testicles, but people talk about it. Hell, my girlfriend uses the sound bite as a notification message on her phone. I want to throw it at a wall every time she gets a text or tweet.
That said, I think MS does own the patent on poor tech commercials (Where would you like to go today? Anywhere but here!), so litigation may ensue.
Silence is a state of mime.
Like guys in sparkly clean room suites dancing to Wild Cherry. Or a guy shouting "dude, you got a Dell!".
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
This inevitably pops up everywhere, but I think it's more symptomatic of a lack of confidence in post-Jobs Apple, producing a self-fulfilling prophecy, than necessarily an independent assessment. Perceptions of Apple have been so closely tied to Jobs for years that evaluation of how smart decision are are strongly influenced by that. There are things that Apple could do today that will get people kvetching about "ugh, if only Steve Jobs were still here he'd never do that", but if Steve Jobs himself had done the identical thing 5 years ago, people would raise an eyebrow, maybe think it's weird, but give him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he knows what he's doing. Basically, people don't trust Apple knows what they're doing the way they trusted jobs, so even things Jobs would've done get that "if only Jobs..." treatment!
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Who cares?
http://kensegall.com/2012/07/new-mac-ads-landing-with-a-serious-thud/
The site belongs to "a creative director who’s had...a long history with Apple," and the blog includes this gem: "I can’t even say this without feeling awful [these ads feel] like something Best Buy would do."
Really, why does this matter?
bah.
Mac's were so easy to use you didn't need to be a genius?
I think these ads are sending the wrong message.
But Steve Jobs is dead. And he requested people at Apple not spend their time asking "What Would Steve Jobs Do?".
Also, this advertising, cheesy as it may be, is getting attention. Isn't that what ads are for? To get attention.
Remember the Mentos ads? 20 years later? Yep. Cheesy? Yep.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Now that's a career to aspire to.
They could have gotten Vince Offer to do ads for them. Or Jerry Carroll.
Or Jerry Seinfeld.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I don't see the big deal. I just watched the "Basically" ad, and thought it was kinda cute.
What would these supposed critics prefer? Something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkNPcUMffU
The myth that more the eyeball, more successful the ad is just that, a myth. Pushed ad nauseum by mindless bots like you.
It's partially true, in some case only, and only for those who want their names to be remembered (one way or the other). Apple is already a known brand. They don't need this.
In fact, this ad is just depicting mac users as the most idiotic people on the earth. And for a chance, Apple actually made ads that's based on fact. Irony is that it's backfiring.
It's insulting, as a male, to see a husband portrayed as a complete ditz; if they'd done it with a woman, there would have been hell to pay, or people wouldn't have thought it was funny. Look at the idiot man, everyone!
As a techie, I found the way the Genius acts to show someone who is practically codependent. They're not people - they're apparently robots who spend their entire lives wherever they are, serving as customer service agents?
Please help metamoderate.
As french, I've got a patent on cheesy ads..
... is that they have no taste."
(then again, I can think of some TV shows they could air this on where it would be over the heads of their audience. Perhaps they're expanding down-market to people who wouldn't recognize Cesar Chavez. People with no taste have money to spend on computers too.)
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
...now this d-bag. Come on Apple. Spare us.
Apple customers need help for even the simplest thing on their Apple computer.
Apple customers lack common sense.
Apple customers don't even know what an Apple computer is.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
If they are basically truthful, then they are improving on their record.
In my country, most Apple users *are* ingratiating, smug and condescending. Out of the whole Unix lot of the self-righteous, they take the cake.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
... to the windows launch party videos. We have the incompetent boomer with laptop, and the geeky guy... all we're lacking is the black guy and the mom.
Yeesh. Who vets these things?
Everyone is watching the transition of the company from Jobs to Cook. Along the way they're allowed a few slips here and there, but they must know when to retract and when to push back.
I for one hope they don't just live with this, pull it, and put something worthy out there.
If you take "Think Differently" and change the adverb to an adjective, it becomes "Think Different".
I'm not normally annoyed by small grammatical errors, but when it's a multi-million dollar ad campaign, it really drives me crazy. I figured that the campaign worked only because the grammatical error caused people to repeat the phrase in their head multiple times in an effort to reconcile the error (ie. "maybe it will sound okay if I stress the syllables differently"). Repetition builds recognition.
Now that they've started the precedent of incorrect grammar, they should continue it. Genius could be changed from a noun to an adverb, for example.
Free unix account: freeshell.org
This was as painful to watch as the "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell!" commercials, used to be. Maybe more painful, because I actually grew to have a bit of an affinity for Apple products from OSX on-ward. Blech.
Enough about that, let's examine Apple's most famous ad, "1984". Read the text, while thinking (differently) about the kind of company that Apple is in 2012.
How ironic, eh? Apple has become the very thing that they despised, back then. One True Way of doing things, and if you don't like it, hit the highway.
I'm a late adopter, for very good reasons I won't go into here. I recently saw my first iPad in the wild, my new roomie has one. I had some cool Cajun mp3s he wanted, so I gave him my USB stick to transfer the files. I even GAVE him the actual CD that I purchased from the hand of the artist himself, to keep, as I didn't particularly care for the music and he loved it. Oops! The iPad doesn't have a USB port. He explained he had to do everything by iTunes. Bummer, eh?
Next, he was going for a new job, and wanted me to look over his contract. He sent me the .DOC file by email, and I annotated it using Libre Office's "CTRL-ALT-C comment" function. I highlighted the parts of the contract I thought should be changed, made my comments, and resent the file to him. Oops! Turns out, there's no free .DOC reader that will show those comments. His brother ended up loading the files onto his PC and sending him JPG screenshots. I'm sure if he wanted to pay $19.99, there would be some sort of solution to his problem. Again, a garden of pure ideology, secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths.
Jeez, the entire Apple motto, "Think Different", is a riff on IBM's motto, "Think". Let's all think differently and ignore the obvious grammatical error. Oof, how outdated! It's like how Texas A&M defines themselves by the rivalry to UT, and has no personality without it...now they're in different conferences. Awkward.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Those commercials are cheesy indeed, but imho Apple commercials always were. Only explanation i can came up with for this reception is that the reality distortion field is wearing off.
Nothing to see here.
The guy from this ads reminds me of David Lightman (played by Matthew Broderick) from the "Wargames" movie.
#8 in the article states that IT World asked its users if they simply want to punch that genius guy in the face, lol. I think the geniuses overall have a worse customer satisfaction rating than Geek Squad (as read on slashdot) so even before the commercial aired, I think people wanted to do that. But anyway, the really funny thing is I absolutely guarantee you they won't do that he's doing in that commercial, on an airplane or in the store. They won't help you with a specific, 1 time project you're working on in iMovie. They'll tell you in general how to use it but won't basically assemble a slideshow for you. Great job, Apple.
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"Even Prophets don't know everything"
Try being a southern white male. With the notable, rare exception of Matthew Mcconaughey, a white male with a southern drawl is invariably portrayed in the movies as either a wife beater, a racist, a child abuser, a drunk, or as simply stupid. More often it's a combination of all five.
The husband/dominant male in EVERY AD is an idiot. His wife is either just normal, or considerably more intelligent.
The Apple marketing department is just using the effective tactic of suggesting to Apple users that they are smarter than they really are, just because they use Apple products. XD
The ads are targeted at non-geeks, to teach non-geeks basic computer skills, and in the geek community that is worse than 17 Hitlers because geeks are, mostly, people with various personality and mental disorders.
If the shoe fits...
Got it! :-)
For some reason people think that Apple's core audience / market are techies. Apple has always been about bringing technology to the masses. The genius just reinforces that vision. The people who buy Apple products do not want to tinker. They want a product that works and for some reason it doesn't work they want someone to fix it or someone to talk to.
Think about the Mac vs PC campaign. The entire campaign pointed out all the things that people hated about Windows.
You just complained about southern while males being labeled racist and then YOU WENT AND SAID RACIST THINGS.
- Within 2-3 seconds you know exactly what Apple is marketing with these ads (which is not the computers, but the software and support network surrounding computers).
- There are no god-awful sex appeal tactics
- They get the point across very clearly (when you buy an apple, you can count on a uniform and cultivated support network, and usability out of the box)
- They don't have actors/actresses with horribly annoying catch phrases or voices to try to "stand out".
This ad campaign is completely fantastic. They know they don't need to build the mac brand; they also know that they have to make very clear what makes them special.
They're spotlighting the people that earn ~$12.00 an hour in commercials that are supposed to help you with your newly purchased $1000 computer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/business/apple-store-workers-loyal-but-short-on-pay.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=all
WON'T SOMEBODY STICK UP FOR THE WHITE MIDDLE-CLASS MALE?
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
With the notable, rare exception of Matthew Mcconaughey, a white male with a southern drawl is invariably portrayed in the movies as either a wife beater, a racist, a child abuser, a drunk, or as simply stupid. More often it's a combination of all five.
Except on CMT. Oh, and on Fox News.
Matthew Mcconaughey is frequently cast as a simpleton (albeit with a heart of gold).
On the other hand, how soon we forget the "two modern day Robin Hoods"
some dorky ads. Nothing to see here. Move along.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
If the shoe fits...
Shoes are a Yankee thang.
They've already completely captured the hipster, coffee-shop, pseudo-intellectual market with their past advertising campaigns. Might as well go for a different demographic that didn't buy in to their weird-and-kinda-snobby aesthetic.
Look at their old ads - Full screen shot of an iPad. "Here's what you can do on an iPad." with a simple piano jingle behind it. Fade to Apple logo. The End. The right way to do an ad.
The wrong way includes that Motorola ad where the guy pilots a mech/spaceship with an Android tablet, the ad with the spinning razor death phones slicing through a city, and pretty much anything else involving jumping off buildings, talking to aliens, shooting lasers, robots or cyborgs.
These latest ads veer into the latter category.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
I love that the story isn't "Apple made some shitty ads", but rather "people are mean to Apple (because of their shitty ads)".
sic transit gloria mundi
As an Apple Genius I can honestly say I would never in a million years wear my Apple uniform outside of work. Also, if they announced the need for an Apple Genius on an airplane I would sink so far into my seat that I'd be invisible. If one of my misguided travel companions volunteered me I'd probably cause the plane to crash by stuffing them into the engines.
Also, techie people when you go to the Genius Bar try not to be so insufferable. Yes, you probably do know more about computers than me. No I've never written a line of code in my life. I'm just a guy trying to do a good job.
Wish I didn't have to post this as AC.
Try being a southern white male. With the notable, rare exception of Matthew Mcconaughey, a white male with a southern drawl is invariably portrayed in the movies as either a wife beater, a racist, a child abuser, a drunk, or as simply stupid. More often it's a combination of all five.
Try being Scottish - your choice is a drunk, a heroin addict or Sean Connery.....
These ads will work, and they will work well.
The only people pissed off by them are confirmed anti-Apple geeks anyway. But none of you are lost sales because you weren't going to buy Macs ever anyhow. You don't matter.
But my Mom matters. She can switch platforms on a dime. And now my Mom is going to want to buy a goddamned Mac. Lovely.
See, they're not selling computers, they're selling a Matthew Broderick clone. Moms like Matthew Broderick clones. Mine does anyway.
Apple has seen the light, and the light is telling them that when you're trying to dominate the Mass Market, then the way to do it is not to woo the niche hipster crowd, (who, by the way, will not be dissuaded in the slightest by these ads as they've already heavily emotionally invested in Apple and so will bend over backwards to forgive them any slight,) but rather, you need to charm the normals.
Cuz, you see, when people self-identify with the products, how many Moms are going to say, "Yes, I'm chic and cool. That's who I am."?
Exactly. None.
Apple didn't drop the ball here at all. They hired smart people who will sell a lot of Macs for them.
These ads are worse than the "You're gettin' a Dell, dude!" commercials. I'm almost embarrassed to be seen with anything Apple now. And Apple touts ease of use, but now they show a need for an Apple Genius to do basic tasks like edit some photos?! WTF??
- Hocky-puck mouse
- G4 Cube
- The iPod shuffle without buttons
Seriously people -- they're doing pretty well but they aren't perfect.
Besides, who gives a fuck what CRITICS think of ads? In 3 months, Apple will know if the ads worked or not, and then we'll see more of them, or we won't.
Jeez. Slow news day?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I was told by an ad executive that about half of the TV ads are directed at the employees, not the customers, with the sole intention of rising morale among their working masses. Studies have shown that they are way more effective than increasing the employee's salaries by the cost of the commercial campaign.
Next time you see a commercial pay attention and it is easy to tell who the target audience is. In the case of the cheesy apple ads, clearly the target are the teenagers working at the Apple store.
Sean Connery....
You don't want to be in violation of S2000.YTMND, now do you? I sure know I don't.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The prejudice against the southern accent is deep. I found it in myself at the my first tech job, taking tech support calls. If the caller had a southern accent, I'd immediately think they were stupid. It took me awhile to get over it.
Now I notice it everywhere in show biz with stereotypes, but also online with people insulting strangers just based off their accents.
Play Command HQ online
Notice they didn't have much of an accent.
Play Command HQ online
Are they some of the most iconic ads ever? Nope, not all Apple ads are. They're not the worst ads either. They're just average imo. But now eveyone is aparently talking about them and making them more valuable than they should be. So I guess they're better ads than I would have assumed.
And the sarcasm went (whoosh)
Notice they didn't have much of an accent.
No, but they did have a giant Confederate flag painted on the roof of their car!
Have we all forgotten about Ellen Feiss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-UuIEOcss
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Now I notice it everywhere in show biz with stereotypes, but also online with people insulting strangers just based off their accents.
Must be quite a strong accent if it gets noticed online ...