So are the new Apple ads hypocritical?
Posted by eileenb on October 21, 2008
Well Techcrunch don’t seem to like the Mac ads in response to our recent Windows adverts – Harvey pointed me to the Techcrunch comments which do seem to backfire on Apple – in fact Josh calls them hypocritical and mean-spirited.
Techcrunch says:
…It is also hypocritical. Apple’s advertising budget is also pretty massive. I mean, I see more Apple commercials on TV than ads for Barack Obama. Apple is on track to spend more than $3.5 billion on SG&A (selling, general, and administrative expenses) for its fiscal year that ended September 30. How much of that was spent on advertising? I don’t know, but 10 percent doesn’t seem unreasonable.
So what do you think? do you think we should have stayed quiet whilst Apple continued to create these ads stereotyping all PC users? Or should have we responded sooner?…
CindyK said
Yes. Apples new adverts are not only hypocritical but they are also snide. And so were the ads that they did before the Windows ‘I’m a PC’ ads.
Granted the ‘apple’ actor was very careful not to appear to have a ’superior’ attitude, but the advertisement itself certainly did. Those Apple ads have always been very passive aggressive.
I liked the Windows ads because they didn’t pick on /anyone/. They celebrated how unique every individual is. They did not say that because people were ‘PC’s’ That they were better than Apples. That’s what made them work for me.
I’m glad Windows finally responded.
eileenb said
Cindy – I so agree
we’re all PC’s really – unique but different…
perhaps we should be passive aggressive – to see what response that elicits – we’d get REALLY bad press for that though …
CindyK said
Yes! That’s the problem. MS is the Darth Vader of Operating systems to many people. But I use it at home and manage it at work, and I’m buying Vista machines now because they are fine.
After musing over the “I HATE MICROSOFT” campaign that started many a year ago I think I have discovered where it began.
I’m an elder-geek, and was weened on Unix – the Steve Jobs NeXT brand no less. I will confess to have been a windows basher for many a year – mostly because of the issue surrounding the purchase of DOS. I don’t want to raise an issue like this from the dead, even this close to Halloween, but honestly THAT is at the root of why people bash windows.
We geeky types were ANGRY about it – even though we probably didn’t have the facts. And we hated on MS. And everyone who was struggling to learn to use their computer counted on us for advice – so they hated on MS. And now that hate has taken on a life of it’s own.
Microsoft has done an incredible job of making computers easy to use on the front end. My 72 year old Mother just got her first computer and is loving it. Thank you Microsoft.
eileenb said
Cindy,
Thank you – you really should work in my team
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/community/bb380164.aspx you’re a true evangelist – especially powerful as someone who used to hate Microsoft and now loves it.
…and my (70 year old) mother has 2 PC’s – one with Vista – one with XP ans switches between them seamlessly and loves her experience in her new world.
So thank YOU for supporting her too and making her experience a good one…