I'm a... Whatever
So, did you think the first two Microsoft ads sucked? Personally, the first one left me spinning in circles, while the second one seemed like a remake of Un Chien Andalou set in suburbia. But with the latest phase of this campaign, we seem to be on firmer ground.
Let me get this out the way up front: I have five Windows systems here, two running XP and three Vista, and I've been using mostly Windows in a graphics and publishing environment since the runtime version of Windows that was attached to PageMaker back in the 80s. Like so many things, my use of Windows is a historical accident: you know, like the person you marry, the career you have, that kind of thing. You make up a story about it afterwards but life is pretty much a series of accidents. However, before Mac people jump all over me, I should point out that I was also the editor in chief for many years of a national publication devoted to electronic publishing, and thanks to that spent more than a few late nights on deadline tweaking layouts on Macs running QuarkXPress. Mac or PC, whatever, is my take on the platform debate.
Having said that, I haven't been all that thrilled with the endless Mac ads poking fun at Windows users. Is it really that cool to ridicule people by misrepresenting the operating system they use? Gee, isn't attacking people through the use of half-truths and stereotypes one of the things that is currently being decried in the current American elections? Funny how this kind of thing is okay in some contexts but not others.
So here we are with the first post-Seinfeld ads (whew). The initial one, shown above, starts with a mildly cathartic moment, in which a Microsoft employee does his impression of the PC character in the Mac ads, stating that "I'm a PC and I have been made into a stereotype," before a spectrum of folks, some a bit marginal, proudly proclaim "I'm a PC!"—nothing I plan on doing anytime soon, I can assure you. The second one continues in the same vein, as does the third.
Success or flop? I think it's too soon to say, since the campaign is apparently only in its opening stages. It will be interesting to see it play out. But if you think Microsoft has totally lost it, keep in mind that the agency of record here is Crispin Porter + Bogusky—an agency stuffed with people so smart it hurts. Do you really think the inventors of Subservient Chicken will be unable to change Microsoft's image? If so, I have a Bridge to Nowhere I'd like to sell you.
Chris Dickman
Graphics.com | Also blogging on Photos.com
Chris, sounds like you've been using pc's and macs doing graphics as long as I have. Just thought to point out that the mac commercials are using the two actors to represent machines and their OS's, not the people who actually use them. Maybe people are getting a little too personal with their silicon. "You bully, you offended my personal cyberspace."
Read this: specialy the last line.
Chris Dickman responds: The article being linked to trumpets the fact that some still images relating to this campaign that were posted on Microsoft's site were created with the Mac version of Photoshop. To which I would say, good for Microsoft! Use Gimp running on Linux to create them, for all I care. While many Mac users wouldn't be caught dead using a Windows-based system, the reverse is not so often the case, in my experience. Regarding the last sentence of the piece you link to, not even Microsoft ever suggested that their Expression software is a replacement for Photoshop.
As I said in my post: PC/Mac, whatever. I like the idea of a hybrid environment. A more balanced article covering this tempest in a teapot can be found here.
I like the ads. I, too, was getting a little tired of the apple ads. The first ones were good, but enough was enough. I, like you, have been using a PC and publishing/design software since every version 1 of almost anything you can think of, except Windows. I used version 2 of Windows with Pagemaker ver. 1. Hey, I was a little late getting to the whole desktop publishing revolution! I have always maintained that I can do anything you can do (with your Mac). And, I'm right. I have woked in big and small companies, ran my own and helped start others, all using a PC and even some PC only software (Xerox Ventura Publisher 1 and Corel Draw 1).
So, though the ads look a little Microsoftish, I like what they proclaim--the diversity of people that use a PC and what they accomplish.
Apple: lower your prices and you'll sell more. I won't buy one because I can get two PCs for the price of one Apple. In today's economy, that speaks way louder than either company's ads.
The Apple ads are comparing Windows machines with Apple Macs; not the people who use them. The Window ads are missing the point.
These ads are Microsoft's attempt at re-framing the argument. However, instead of demonstrating that PCs are superior to Macs, or counteracting what Apple is saying about Windows machines, it resorts to a red-herring argument.
Is this an effective approach? I don't know. The Apple ads suggest that Macs are much easier to use than Windows PCs. While this new Microsoft ad says that all sorts of people use PCs. I don't think it is a particularly strong selling point. However, this approach does differentiate Microsoft from Apple (which has a much smaller market share).
Just not sure it deals effectively with Apple's strong selling point: they are much easier to use.
Chris Dickman responds: I can't agree with you that the Mac ads spoke strictly about the differences in the relative platforms. By using real people to embody them, and ridiculing the PC surrogate, they mocked Windows users. No crime in that, but let's be honest about it. Thus, Microsoft responding by showing actual Windows users, not actors, is far from being a "red herring." Some might say it's dead on.
Thanks for your comments. Although I thought the Microsoft advertisements have been a little off-the-wall lately, I like that type of thing. I'm a little off-the-beaten path in terms of thinking, but that's just me.
As for the Windows/Mac debate, I am so sick and tired of the holier-than-thou Mac folk looking down upon and basically saying that you're not a "real" designer unless you're on that platform. Bullshit.