Comments on: Apple pulls ‘Genius’ ad series from its website, YouTube channel

By: Lordthree

Lordthree — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:58:17 +0000

It was during the 3GS launch. Not so long ago or different from now. Snow leopard had just come out. Arguably Apple’s hey-day

By: althegeo

althegeo — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:56:52 +0000

I also liked the ads.

I thought they were aimed at Windows sufferers. That’s why I couldn’t understand the backlash.

By: MuppetGate

MuppetGate — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:34:21 +0000

This is what really concerns me: that Apple has started listening to whiners who hang out in forums. If this carries on we’ll end up with a six-inch screen iPhone that has a ten minte battery life.

And yes, I thought the ads were great.

By: MacFreek

MacFreek — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:30:19 +0000

Apple needs to pull its head out of its ass and start shipping new and improved desktop machines.

By: The Other Steve

The Other Steve — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:37:16 +0000

“vocal minority”
Very well said.

By: nathanhillery

nathanhillery — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 06:46:02 +0000

I’ll officially register that I liked the ads too. I didn’t think the users looked stupid, just challenged by circumstances. I thought the genius was helpful without being condescending. But the ads were very different than Apple of late, and I guess the vocal minority weren’t ready.

By: Jax44

Jax44 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:08:48 +0000

I was being facetious in regards to the pulled ads.

By: Agent Provocateur

Agent Provocateur — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:56:05 +0000

I remember the ad and the campaign. The problem back then was the Mac was falling behind, kinda like today.

No Mac Pro= No Mac future for many users. The iOS pimps need to remember that all those apps are written on Macs. ALL OF THEM.

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:48:15 +0000

I imagine a Kim Kardashian ad. (Shudder)

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:33:55 +0000

Uh, OK, wait…if Apple’s base is curmudgeons, then Microsoft’s base is…oh dear…gulp…

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:29:57 +0000

Steve Jobs and Ferris Bueller: The question isn’t “what are we going to do,” the question is “what aren’t we going to do?”

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:27:31 +0000

Some of my best friends are curmudgeons.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:23:12 +0000

Lol, ADOLF….Adolfo Hitler was Juan Carlos’s chihuahua.

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:21:05 +0000

Maybe you’re not seeing this because of AdBlock or something, but the ad in the top right prime slot of this MDN page shows a driver’s licence in the name of Jane Sample, 456 Anywhere Street. But the driver photo is a dead ringer for Marissa Mayer…

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:20:58 +0000

Except for H.L. Mencken himself after his public support of Adolfo Hitler.

By: Xil

Xil — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:15:30 +0000

I liked the ads, they we lighthearted and fun, much better than the Siri ones. He reminded me of ferris!

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 03:10:42 +0000

heh.

By: elvispanda

elvispanda — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:46:13 +0000

Absolutely, Thumper, I had the same thought immediately. Steve would have never aired those. They reminded me of when Apple was flailing around with the Intel bunnies exploding and whatnot, before the elegant “Think Different.” campaign started expressing the true nature of Apple. These were just awful. Apple needs to express it’s different and inventive, unless it’s truly not anymore.

By: emess1950

emess1950 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:34:59 +0000

The whole damn planet is inked, pierced, or sick. Sorry… it’s painful.

By: 8^þ

8^þ — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:26:29 +0000

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people — H. L. Mencken

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:09:09 +0000

Not any more, Apple pulled them.

Shows you where the real control resides: WITH THE POWER USERS, YAY! Except, wait…we used to be a niche market, but Apple wants to expand beyond that, but they fear alienating their curmudgeon user base…oh my, is my mind is experiencing the pain of…evolving?

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:02:01 +0000

Back in ’08—so last decade…literally…

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:56:23 +0000

OK, except that it’s probable that Browett acted unilaterally, the senior staff erupted, the CEO called a meeting, the action was discussed, and Brower was given a suggestion or two, resulting in an uncharacteristic mea culpa.

It may be that in Tim Cook’s ballpark, it’s TWO strikes and yer out…we’ll see.

By: Thelonious Mac

Thelonious Mac — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:48:56 +0000

Oh… I dunno….

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:48:32 +0000

Don’t say I never gave you anything…

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:47:09 +0000

Wait—my perception was that the genius behaved not in a clueless manner but in a reactive manner, like Marty McFly or Buster Keaton, incredulous that his customers should be so clueless. “Here, let’s just get us all out of harm’s way…”

Curse me, and Apple, for forgetting that subtlety and allusion don’t always cut it in the advertising racket.

By: Thelonious Mac

Thelonious Mac — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:47:02 +0000

“… They’re loyal but discerning and outspoken fans of Excellence itself.”

Nice. Is that original? Cause I’m hereby ripping it off. I will be tossing it about in casual conversation as if it just came to me.

By: hannahjs

hannahjs — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:28:23 +0000

So did I…but Apple seems to be paying attention to the tech press, desiring to coddle its core customers who, they have seen, are actually self-interested more than uncritically supportive.

In other words, Apple fanboys aren’t fanboys at all.

They’re loyal but discerning and outspoken fans of Excellence itself.

By: The Other Steve

The Other Steve — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:17:26 +0000

By: The Other Steve

The Other Steve — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:03:32 +0000

Those ads represent exactly what made the Apple stores a success!
People are NOT stupid or clueless, they just want a place to ask their questions without feeling stupid or clueless.

Besides, I like the ads, they made me laugh. They also made my mother laugh, and THAT is why they work!

By: klooblis

klooblis — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:55:55 +0000

What I’m concerned about is that Apple won’t put out other Mac ads for a long time.

I haven’t seen imac ads for years. There doesn’t seem to have been significant mac TV ads since the mac PC guys (which ceased years ago) . Never seen Mac Mini ads any where not even in print, and no point even to talk about Mac Pro ads..

Apple should should boost Macs more. Although Mac sales is beating PC growth for many quarters I believe it can do better. Worldwide Mac market share is still only around 5% (although higher in the States).

Apple lost a great opportunity with Vista to climb over 10% and more, they shouldn’t waste the looming Win 8 disaster.

as a aapl investor I think apple should grab all the low hanging fruit it can and depending too much on iOS alone for profits is dangerous. C’mon Macs are profitable (and there’s always a segment who needs ‘trucks’ ) , more mac ads…

By: Lordthree

Lordthree — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:47:10 +0000

Ours are terrible. they are pierced up all over and have those disgusting huge earrings that make them look like dumbo. I don’t even like going in there.

I used to work tech support for Apple back in 08 and the tech people were WAY more normal looking than the people they hire for retail- it should be the other way around.

By: CupertinoJoe

CupertinoJoe — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:23:34 +0000

Really? Where do you shop? Our area Apple Stores, places like Valley Fair, Palo Alto etc have very clean attractive employees. They look, sound and smell proper.

By: mimimax

mimimax — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:19:48 +0000

FYI: Nick Haley is here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/njhaley I want him back. Don’t you?

By: mimimax

mimimax — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:16:19 +0000

I think this post represents just the right opportunity to remind all of us about the inspiration that the Apple community could bring to Apple ads, just a few years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKQUZPqDZb0 Where are you, Nick Haley? You surely have other great ideas to bring Apple ads to the next level! Don’t you?

By: qka

qka — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:06:14 +0000

+1!

By: clyde2801

clyde2801 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:01:50 +0000

They had to withdraw the ads, they were deceptive: the Apple Store employee didn’t have a single tat or piercing.

By: kaplanmike

kaplanmike — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:45:28 +0000

Actually, I love the Martin Scorsese ad for Siri. Haven’t seen the others…

By: educat5

educat5 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:27:32 +0000

I liked them. Most Mac owner newbies are somewhat clueless about the many features within their new purchase… not to mention those deciding on a computer purchase/os switch.

By: Hg Wells

Hg Wells — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:20:26 +0000

I liked the Genius ads. I think people were reading too much into them. They didn’t have to run forever, but I don’t think a slightly more extensive run would have hurt anything.

Unlike others, I thought they would also appeal to younger buyers who might relate to the Genius.

I liked them better than the old “image” ads that Apple ran for so many years. But I do miss the Mac/PC ads.

By: HelpDeskBlues

HelpDeskBlues — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:11:39 +0000

Yup. I had a client ask me if there was something wrong with her macbook pro. She thought someone had hacked into her email on the mac because it showed her “curly letters” whenever she tried to send an email. So, she didn’t send any email. The “curly letters” phenomena was the email service anti-spam authentication window. We’ve all seen those graphics — “type these three letters”.

By: Lordthree

Lordthree — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:09:11 +0000

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:02:34 +0000

I agree. The celebrity ads were terrible. I cringe when I see them.

By: Jax44

Jax44 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:59:03 +0000

What ads?.

By: Thumper

Thumper — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:52:27 +0000

It’s just one more sign of how Apple misses Steve Jobs. There’s no way those ads would have gotten aired with his idiocy-detecting meter in use.

By: Rastamouse

Rastamouse — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:48:35 +0000

Yup, some of the staff I have to deal with are utterly clueless. CLUELESS! However it’s easy to criticise someone else who is struggling when you know how to do what it is you are showing that person; the skill is teaching that person without making them feel clueless….

It’s a fine line, Apple fell off it with the last set of ads, I’m sure they’ll analyse them and figure out a way of saying the Genius Bars are awesome in a non-condescending way (which, in my opinion, they are – I’ve had nothing but awesome customer service whenever I’ve used an Apple Store/Genius Bar).

By: Apple is Always Right

Apple is Always Right — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:45:07 +0000

Thank God aka Jobs

By: MacRaven

MacRaven — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:37:03 +0000

And an IT I can fully say some of my clients are clueless and fall under the category of these commercials. The truth is sometimes painful.

By: mimimax

mimimax — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:36:01 +0000

If Tim Cook and other Apple executives chose John Browett, there is/are a/many reason(s), really. Let’s not be be too harsh about this decision. John Browett did admit some mess-up. Now let’s see how Apple Retail evolves in the next weeks/months/years. They we can judge him.

By: CitizenX

CitizenX — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:33:26 +0000

No doubt. The 1% are not “the rest of us”.