HP Is Advertising Its Real, Modern Printers on This Fake, Awkward '80s Computer Show (adweek.com)

T.L. Stanley, writing for AdWeek: It's a fine line between effective '80s homage and clumsy retro spoof, with the latter usually involving a lot of overplayed visual gags like brick-sized cell phones and VHS tapes. Cue pointing and laughing. This new HP video, dubbed "Computer Show," hits the sweet spot perfectly with its recreation of a Reagan-era public access show about technology, but with a fish-out-of-water spin. The host is stuck in time -- stilted stage manner, goofy haircut and all -- but his guests are current-day tech pioneers. Awkward hilarity ensues. The short film, made by Giant Spoon and Sandwich Video for HP, sets up a print-off between HP's PageWide super-fast model and a dot matrix supplied by an employee of the neighborhood "Kwikopy."

Comments

How far they have fallen

[drinkypoo]

Remember when HP could compare their products to the actual competition (from the same era, no less) and come out looking... competitive? They have to compare their printer to a fictional dot matrix (what was that actually, anyway?) in order to make it look like something you'd want to buy?

I really should have gone into advertising.

Re:How far they have fallen

[Dogtanian]

I remember when HP stood for "Built like a tank".

It was at this point the founders realised that their marketing guy was in fact completely illiterate, and soon after were insisting that "HP" actually stood for "Hewlett Packard", honest.

HP Thanks You

[Anonymous Coward]

HP thanks you for helping to propagate their advertisements.