“You’ve probably seen those commercials with the cool young guy standing next to the hopelessly nerdy old guy chatting about some way that Apple computers are just soooooo much better than PCs that run Windows,” Tony Briggs writes for The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“This has been the mantra of the Apple cult for going on 20 years now: ‘We are smart and sophisticated and everyone else, especially those who use computers running Windows, are complete dopes.’ And perhaps even more important — ‘They cannot hope to be as cool as we are,'” Briggs writes.
“One would think that Apple would learn this is not the best way to win over Windows users. That’s pretty clear, since about 95 percent of the world still uses PCs running Windows and only 5 percent use Macs. But Apple thinks different, I guess,” Briggs writes. “Here’s a tip for Steve Jobs and company: Insulting the people you are trying to sell to probably isn’t the best strategy.”
Briggs writes, “The truth seems to be that the folks at Apple just can’t help themselves. That smug air of superiority has been part of their culture for so long, it’s built into their DNA now.”
“The irony of all this is that one of the big selling points for Apple PCs now is that they can run the dreaded Windows operating system. I still don’t get the point of that,” Briggs writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First of all, Apple Mac users are smarter than Windows users (See Those who surf the Web using a Mac tend to be better educated and make more money than their PC-using counterparts, according to a report from Nielsen/NetRatings.) Most Mac users have Windows experience (forced to suffer it at work and school) and have therefore made an informed choice while most Windows users have little or, most likely, no experience with the Mac. A “choice” made from ignorance is no choice. Using an insecure 5-year-old OS and waiting for a bad copy of Apple’s 5-year-old OS when the secure Apple Mac continually pushes ahead, leading by years, doesn’t strike us as smart.
Exactly how is Apple supposed to tell Windows user that the Mac is a better choice without offending them? The basic point is that most Windows users would be far better off with a Mac. Sorry to offend, but that’s a fact. No insult intended. Get a Mac and you’ll see it, too.
Macs run Windows so that Apple can get people to finally sample Mac OS X. As usual, the Mac will do the rest of the job itself as people realize they are booting into Windows less and less. Its an “embrace first, then extinguish” strategy. Since Mac market share and unit sales are growing, it’s difficult to say that Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign isn’t working.
Throw in the Mac’s ability to run all the Windows, Linux and Mac software in the world, the very competitive prices of today’s critically-acclaimed Macs, Apple’s growing legion of retail stores, the iPod halo, the glowing reviews of Mac OS X and Mac-only software like iLife plus the critical pans of Windows Vista, and Windows’ constant security woes and the Mac’s iron-clad security, and you’ll see why Apple Mac is ascendent.
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Interesting take by the writer. I don’t see the ads as insulting Windows users. I see the ads insulting Windows and its (in)ability to get things done without crashing or getting viruses.
I may be wrong but the current ads don’t actually make any claims about windows users being stupid, they say windows pc’s are rubbish and their users don’t know any better.
Tony Briggs is not cool.
To prove the point of intelligence, he misunderstands the rather obvious symbolism that the “Mac” is cool, the “PC” is not cool. He sees himself as the PC, rather than a user of PC. Hmm, maybe he should seek counselling because this suggests that he might, in fact, feel uncool and is projecting that onto his PC. Just a thought.
There’s an old saw in marketing that 50% of your advertising dollars are wasted. You just don’t know which 50%.
Apple’s sales are increasing, and the message about viruses is finally getting out. Something’s going right.
“”This has been the mantra of the Apple cult for going on 20 years now: ‘We are smart and sophisticated and everyone else, especially those who use computers running Windows, are complete dopes.’ And perhaps even more important — ‘They cannot hope to be as cool as we are,'” Briggs writes.”
The people who would get offended by the commercial are the very ones who KNOW they fit into that mold. People desperately trying to convince themselves they made the right choice.
Sounds to me like these ads hit a little too close to home for him, and so he has to declare them ineffective.
Bottom line, we will see how much they ‘don’t work’ when APple give quarterly earnings this week.
OTOH I would like to see Apple use some different types of people in these ads to broaden the spectrum a bit. Perhaps in the second wave.
Not all Mac users are smarter than PC users.
See: MDN staff
You gotta just love those ‘commericals’.
I have to admit I absolutely hate the “Get a Mac” ads, and I find them kind of insulting to Mac users, if only because the guy who “plays the Mac” is annoying as hell and just a little too smug. I can see why THAT would bother a PC user. Now, when it comes down to it it’s not easy to sell computers via television commercials but I would think 30 seconds of OS X in action would be more effective then some bad sketch comedy…
“…even more important” should be “…importantly”. they aren’t dopes, but this guy is not helping his case.
Well now… you have to appreciate a story that boils down to “The Truth Hurts”
It’s a commercial.
Get over it….
If you are insulted by Get A Mac ads, you are an emotional cripple and should seek help immediately.
sadly, he’s right.
the ads would’ve been more effective if the roles were reversed, with john hodgeman (the “nerd”) as an everyman mac-user and the punk-ass kid as a mountain dew-swilling pc gamer.
At least they’re not getting the adverts wrong in the UK, there are no adverts!
Macca, it’s good that you don’t work for Apple marketing, because that idea is horrible. Apple will never change the minds of gamers and they are a small bunch anyway, so Apple could not care less about that. The dull PC business person is much more typical of a PC user.
Dr. Gecko–It’s a commercial.
Get over it….
No, it’s a commerical. Read the headline.
The problem is that whilst winblows users say we’re in a cult, they too are in a cult. It’s a battle of religions, at least with the fervent. There’s just more fervent mac users proportionally than winblows users. The rest (of winblows users) are just showing up for church on Christmas, Easter, and funerals. They don’t know there’s a better way. If it’s smug to imply PC’s are inferior so be it. Smugness is a matter of opinion. Personally I think the adds are too tame. An add the says PCs suck for thirty seconds wouldn’t hurt my feelings
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Anyway we’re not here to please the competition, we’re here to crush them! Do you think Ford would be happy with a Toyota commercial–No way! So go ahead don’t be ashamed of the superiority of your mac. Wear it loud and proud!
It’s all about belief. And we beleive we have the best!
He might just feast his eyes on the feedback to this little column and then wonder if what he said made sense…
http://switchtoamac.com/site/why-are-macs-becoming-more-popular.html
Man this guy should have taken a hard look at the new sales number that hit the street this week and then aks himself do I still wants to write this crap – Answer No!
Besides the message was written for the group it’stargeting! PC users! We’re just try to help. But you PC types have got to do a little of the work yourselves!
“Macs run Windows so that Apple can get people to finally sample Mac OS X.”
It also makes it one more point to get Apple hardware. And since Apple is a company that primarily sells hardware …
This weekend I spent some time in an informal setting with two gentlemen interested to hear why, as both a Mac and Windows software developer, I preferred the Mac in my personal computing.
One was MOST receptive to the explanation I gave and will be buying a 24″ iMac this week or next. The other gave me the old “there’s not enough software for Mac” whine, to which I answered, “You mean not as many GAMES, right?” When pressed to identify the missing software in question, he could not . . . other than a few in-house proprietary applications he was forced to use at work. When I reminded him of MS Office, and then added “iLife,” “iWork,” and all the benefits of truly SAFE, maintenance-free computing, he TOO was sold. (I had to throw in the “Parallels” and “Boot Camp” features first, of course, but that’s all it took to close the deal for good.)
A little personal evangelism is all it’s ever gonna’ take to make the Apple/Mac/Leopard/iPod/iTV combo a true long-term knockout punch, folks! Let’s keep it up!
You guys are missing the point. This is targeted marketing. Apple is not attempting to convert entrenched PC lovers. They are a lost cause. Sure a few may switch, but these ads are targeted at 18-35 year olds. They are the future and emerging work force. The adds play off of people’s desire to be crisp and cool.
As we have seen, Princton students choose Mac at about a 8 to 1 ratio over the average computer user.
Princton is the home of some of some of the smartest people, Albert Einstein for example. I like the smug ads. The PC guy is EXACTLY like a pc user. The ads tell the truth.
I think MDN is spot on, Never-the-less, I also think Mr. Briggs makes one or two good points, like: “Here’s a tip for Steve Jobs and company: Insulting the people you are trying to sell to probably isn’t the best strategy.” I have always believed, and still believe, that Apple should be educating the masses on WHY using a Mac at home AND at work IS an informed choice, rather than this persistant (and Burger King-like) head wagging and tongue displaying that it’s adds seem indelibly based on. Television adds can be both entertaining and educational nowdays, they’ve figured out how to do that.
Point number two, “The irony of all this is that one of the big selling points for Apple PCs now is that they can run the dreaded Windows operating system. I still don’t get the point of that,” Briggs writes.” I know well MDN’s stand on this, but like it or not, I see this fact as a kind of chink in the Apple armour, and it tends to have a hint of Custer’s Last Stand flavor to it. I have no doubt it will draw a few to Mac hardware and ultimately the OS, but up to now, it is also a fact that Intel based Macs have garnered a lot of head turns without any miraculous conversion numbers. I still have the uneasy feeling that Macs natively running Windows could turn around and bite Apple in the ass.