New Microsoft Ads: We Don't Need No Fancy Big-City Elitist Computers That Work
Say what you want about the Seinfeld Microsoft ads, at least they were vague. The new commercials, a delayed-by-several-years reaction to Mac's "I'm A PC" ads starring Justin Long and John Hodgman, are clearly trying to position PCs as the average everyday person's choice of computer. Where the Mac ads were criticized for being elitist, at least they addressed the superiority of their product over the competition, emphasizing the fact that PCs get viruses and break all the time. While these ads elicit feelings of democracy, community, and cheers for the underdog, the simple, bare, painful truth is that I don't want to choose a computer based on what a 90-year-old great grandma chooses. I want one that, you know, works. Also, Eva Longoria is not a populist icon:
I hate the smug, smarmy "I blog for Obama" guy.
Posted by Lindsay at 10:15 AM in Commercials
Tags: Bill Gates | Microsoft
i call BS on Pharrell.
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These ads have really opened my eyes to all the different kinds of people you can hire to pretend they're a computer.
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hey kid, I'm a computer.
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you take back what you said about eva!
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i'm confused, however, as to how they got the "PC" guy from the mac commercials into their commercials too. am i missing something?
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They got the PC guy in their ads because Jon Hodgman's first name is not Sean (as in "sean@windows.com"). Apologies if I didn't pick up on your possible facetiousness.
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i'm confused too, did mac license a clip from their own commercial to be used in one for their competitor?
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it only looks like john hodgeman...its not really him
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ah yes, a Deepak Chopra endorsement always works out...just ask Mike Myers...
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this is cool, i guess. it doesn't make me laugh like the I'm a mac/PC commercials, but it works. I think i saw bill gates on Oprah and he was talking about how much he cared about America's rising high school drop out rates, so i guess this commercials work with the whole "i'm rich, but i still feel connected to you poor people" facade he's got going on.
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I recently bought a macbook for school and I was very sad last night when I realized it doesn't have paint. Maybe all microsoft needs to do is make a commerical that says, I'm a P.C. I have paint.
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yeah, because that obama guy is not nearly as smug and smarmy as 99.999% (with a 0.001% margin of error (look up what that means on wikipedia, mac users)) of mac users.
i hate justin long.
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I'm not a mac evangelist, I just got sick of having to buy a new PC laptop every year. it got to the point where I couldn't afford it and needed something that would last. I think these ads are probably pretty effective, I'm just saying that the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads addressed the benefits and liabilities of each product, not just the kind of person who bought them. I couldn't possibly care less if my computer is cool, I just want it to work.
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he's also a lot less smug and smarmy than the d-bag that writes these articles
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This is light years better than the Jerry Seinfeld crap.
Personally, I think the middle one with multiple languages is the best.
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PCs work. If they didn't they wouldn't have the vast majority of the computer market. Apple sells expensive computers. To have Justin Long you must have a shitton more money than if you were to get an HP or IBM or etc. In that latest commercial it shows you that people who aren't trendy bloggers or going to grad school for sculpture installation are most likely using PCs, not annoying you with their iPhone or replacing their broken iPod with another newer flashier iPod every year. And Bill Gates is just cuter than Justin Long. And the facade of philanthropy he's got goin on is real. 2 cents.
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fraid ive gotta agree with Parker. Gates Foundation kind of justifies all the years of sucking and viruses. But if I could afford a macbook air, I'd prob be callin Parker a peasant and posing for some really pretty ipod ads and paying for music.
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These ads are unintentionally funny because (especially the third one) talks about offices and workplaces, you know, where you'd most likely USE a computer. I can't wait to see that rancher shovel up some "number two" with a PC, or that deep sea diver blog about sharks 50 feet beneath the water.
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it sounds like some of them were payed on the side to say 'im a pussy'
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haha
the irony is that mac pros, imacs and macbook pros are conclusively beaten by their cheaper equal-power windows and linux counterparts, ranging from adobe CS to video encoding tasks, nto to mention games.
its a marketing slogan, these pieces of trash break jsut as often, if not more, than any other OS. and in the case of the mac, its the awful coding of the OS that is to blame, as opposed to malicious third-party additions. enjoy your opportunity cost, fools. lern2computer
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