“As Apple prepares a new batch of commercials, ‘Mac guy’—aka Justin Long, of Dodgeball and Herbie: Fully Loaded semi-fame—is nowhere to be found. A rep for Long confirms that his days as an Apple pitchman are over: ‘Every ad you see Justin in is for that previous time period only,’ she tells Radar. ‘There’s no long-term deal with him.’ She adds (somewhat implausibly, perhaps), ‘Justin’s a movie star, not a commercial guy,'” Jeff Bercovici reports for Radar Online.
Bercovici reports, “Meanwhile, the campaign’s other principals, director Phil Morrison and journo-humorist John Hodgman, are both returning for another round of spots, according to sources.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jonathan” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Back in August, Long was quoted by Mary McNamara of The Los Angeles Times as saying, “If I had been egotistical about the movies, I have been brought back to earth. Nine out of 10 people who recognize me recognize me from the commercials.” From what we’ve read and seen from Justin, to us, he never seemed entirely comfortable with being the “Mac Guy” in Apple’s ads.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Tech writer says Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ commercials don’t work – October 16, 2006
USA Today Ad Track poll for Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ campaign shows above-average consumer response – September 18, 2006
Apple debuts major Mac OS X print campaign with 14-page ‘Get a Mac’ booklet – September 07, 2006
More new Apple ‘Get a Mac’ ads – one featuring Gisele Bündchen – seen in Apple Retail Store – September 05, 2006
Critiquing Apple’s new ‘Get a Mac’ ads – August 28, 2006
Apple debuts three new ‘Get a Mac’ ads – August 27, 2006
Nearly 20 more ‘Get a Mac’ TV spots ready to roll – August 11, 2006
Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ ads too harsh? – July 31, 2006
Apple debuts three new ‘Get a Mac’ ads (with video) – June 12, 2006
Apple: ‘Get a Mac. Say ‘Buh-Bye’ to viruses’ – June 01, 2006
Expert panel critiques Apples’ new ‘Get a Mac’ ad TV campaign – May 15, 2006
Do Apple’s new ‘Get a Mac’ ads generate animosity among the uninitiated? – May 08, 2006
Why Apple’s new ‘Get a Mac’ campaign will fail – May 04, 2006
Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ campaign seizes the moment as Microsoft suffers Windows Vista setbacks – May 04, 2006
iTWire’s Beer: Apple’s new ‘get a Mac’ campaign misses, preaches to converted – May 04, 2006
Apple debuts ‘Get a Mac’ TV ads, new section of website replaces ‘Switch’ (link to watch ads online) – May 01, 2006
Justin who?
Seriously three years from now Hodgman will be a household name and very in-demand. Justin Long will be working at Burger King wondering what happened to his money. Movie “star” ha!
As long as Giselle comes back …
They should bring in a Linux guy.
Well said Jeff….
Justin Long didn’t get the Mac. I saw him on Leno trying to be a moderate about the whole thing and confused a the fame that came with being an Apple spokes person. He was some what disrespectful of the product and he rivalry. Hopefully this won’t be a career decision he later regrets.
Yeah, bring in that annoying kid of those new IBM Linux ads. Anyone seen em? Found them on digg the other day.
They should use a seven year old for a while, opposite Hodgman. Just to show how natural and intuitive Macs are.
You’ve got to be shitting me. He thinks he can find a better gig than this? Hope he enjoys being relegated to lame comedies like “Accepted” and “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”
Reminds me of James Gandolfini thinking he’ll ever be bigger than Tony Soprano.
RMN
The article makes it sound like it was Apple’s decision, not Justins. The rep. probably made that statement to not make it sound like he was fired.
Paging Justin Long.
Obscurity is holding for you on line one…
Two Macs:
iMac = hot, sexy, creative, elagant woman while PC guy trys hitting on her, bumbling, trys to impress her, and never quite making it.
Mac Pro = cool, professional, intellegent man while PC guy trys to imitate him and prove he’s as good
Better he has people coughing on him and falling down before him mock-virus-stricken than have passersby toss wrenches in his direction.
“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
My thought is Justin represents Mac OS 10.4 and the new guy or gal will be representing Mac OS 10.5. Hodgman represents Windows XP and will continue to represent Windows XP with his Vista service pack.
Apple: I’m available.
Call me.
-c
MW: ‘white’ (is the new brown)
Yeah I think the next “Mac” should be a sexy but “real” girl. Go AAPL!!!
Anyone notice that the new Sears commercials look a lot like the Apple ads?
Shadow nailed it!
That makes the most sense to me as to how the next round of commercials are going to be positioned.
Of course, another spot or two with Giselle wouldn’t be all that bad, either.
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Ellen Feiss.
PC is bent over a fence. A huge Hell’s Angel is holding him down. Behind PC is a line of big, rough, scary men. PC’s face is in extreme pain.
Mac: Hey PC, whatch doin’–Holy Crap!! What’s happening to you?!
PC: Oh I…ARRRRH!…just went online again….AUGGH!…Now I’m under…GAAAH!…attack…
Mac: Jesus Christ, PC, you’re…you’re being…I don’t believe this! MY GOD!!
PC: Um…ARRRRH!…yes…doesn’t this….AUGGH!…happen to…GAAAH!…you.?
Mac: Christ, no! Jesus PC, can I help you…somehow?
PC: No…it’ll be OK… GAAAH…all I have to do is… ARRRRH…wait for the attack to end… AUGGH!…and then (wait for it)…wipe clean
Mac: You just…just..tolerate this? Sweet fscking mother of Christ…
A shocked Mac walks away shaking his head. The next Hell’s Angel takes his place in line…
We also shouldn’t be condemning the guy for “quitting” when there has been no evidence to support that. His publicist made a stupid comment a few months ago. Publicists and clients aren’t always on the same page (ask Doogie Howser!).
Regardless, I don’t see the problem with using different people to play the Mac. Macs have lots of different uses and portraying them with different personalities depending on what they’re used for sounds like a strong conceptual idea. Of course, the same is true of PCs, but John Hodgman is just too good to let go.
Now imagine Hodgman’s character (XP) trying desperately to look like Justin’s character (10.4). I.E. a middle age man desperately trying to reclaim his youth by dressing like a kid. Hilarious.
I think the new Mac representative should be Lexington Steele and replace Hodgman with Ron Jeremy.
I’ve long thought that they should feature Hodgman as the former PC turned Macintosh, wowing all his PC friends with his new found power and capabilities as a Mac and converting them over along the way.
This seems kinda stupid. The campaign is only a few months old and they’re already ditching the guy who’s there to represent the brand that’s being advertised. Sounds bad to me.
I love Hodgman, but I hope we’re not going to only see the PC from now on in our Mac ads.
Anyone noticed that the new XBox 360 ads look like the Nano ads with all the flying mosiac??