Multiple MacDailyNews readers have noticed that the “Sabotage” ad from Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign no longer appears on the company’s website. Italian website setteB.IT reports that three other ads have also fallen off Apple’s site: “Better,” “Gift Exchange,” and “Goodwill.”
Apple “Get a Mac” ad: “Sabotage”
MacDailyNews Note: The ads are still available on Apple’s website via direct links (for example: http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-sabotage_480x376.mov), but not as part of the main menu of “Get a Mac” ads here: http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
As of this article’s time of publication, Apple has not responded to an inquiry as to why the ad is no longer part of their “Get a Mac” campaign’s menu of ads.
[UPDATED: February 7: 10:00am EST: Added info about the three other ads from setteB.IT and revised headline.]
The ad was pulled because it made no sense.
hmmm …maybe it’s……..SABOTAGE!!!
{cranks up Beastie Boys}
It made perfect sense. PC put a crude replica in place to imitate the Mac.
Art imitates life.
-c
Grap a copy from the direct link while you can!
Is it really that confusing? It was about FUD. For those of you in Redmond… that’s not Elmer.
maczealot could it be that it’s a play on what Microsoft has done for years .. which is pay people to talk down everything but Windows/PC? It makes perfect sense if you’ve been a Mac or Linux user for any amount of time. Just check out ZDnet and PCWorld’s archives. *shrug*
Apple probably had a focus group made up of Windows users review the add. They probably did not get it.
It probably proved to not be an effective ad. People had to think too hard to understand it.
If the ad was about FUD, what was Apple’s point by mimicking the likes of Enderle? What is the purpose of an ad if it isn’t to promote your product and not repeat your competitor’s propaganda?
The ad is still part of the line-up at the Canadian site:
http://www.apple.com/ca/getamac/ads/
As for the ad itself, I always took it as the “fake Mac” being like a Rob Enderle-type blog or msm shill that the PC is sending BS press releases too. But the blogger or shill, despite being paid by M$, is really a big fan of Mac, despite everything he’s said.
I see the ad as Apple calling Redmond’s bullshit what it is.
Eh, it isn’t a good ad anyway.
I can tell you: Good irony is wasted on the stupid
Anyone in the marketing biz can tell you about an “unbeatable” funny ad that backfired because people were too stupid to get it.
Lowest common denominator only need apply.
To offer a simple theory, perhaps they just wanted a multiple-of-six quantity of ads to fit well in their ad browser thingy. If they had a prime number of ads, it would really muck things up when browsing, and Apple is pretty anal about that sorta thing.
We all got it but the great unwashed masses definitely wouldn’t have.
ummm, it’s there now (still?) 11pm PST, 2/6/07
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
So, what’s your reason for “getting it”? It still begs the question, if the ad wasn’t successful why continue to broadcast an ineffectual ad? Only a fool would continue to pay to broadcast an ad that wasn’t achieving its desired outcome. Then again, from many of the threads here esotericism is a sufficient reason to broadcast an ad, even if the is meaning masked in abstraction. Let me guess, few of you have any professional training or experience in marketing. Apparently, a few of you Wall Street wizards don’t agree with Apple’s decision to pull the ad, either. If you’re smarter than Apple’s marketing team I’m sure they could use your expertise. Give them a call.
I suppose it was pulled, because it could very easily be misunderstood. If you’ve never seen any of these commmercials before, and start with that one, chances are that you will wonder what the hell that was…
FWIW, they pulled ‘Gift Exchange’, ‘Wall Street Journal’ and ‘Sabotage’.
I do think that ‘jon’ might be partially correct about the number thing. There have been 22 ‘Get-A-Mac’ Ads so far. While 22 is great for numerology, it’s not so divisible by six.
I also considered ‘Dijonaise’ thoughts. Irony and sarcasm are mostly wasted in the good ‘ole U.S and A.
This ad was pulled because there was every likelihood that following the appalling performance of Bill Gates in his interview with Levy of Newsweek the press would latch onto it and interpret it as a very DIRECT and personal attack on Bill Gates himself.
I don’t have a problem with that so I’ll continue to use it
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It weird but I agree with jon, I think that they had to pull one of them to make the ads scroll nicertha. Sabotage happened to be the one the editor least like, so he tossed it(for now)
It probably did go above the heads of moat PC users.
But one thing’s for certain, it’ll become a classic now.
An early death always guarantees that.
everything goes over the average pc user’s heads
they should think of becoming limbo dancers
kaboom!
its very funny… But perhaps not as punchy as some of the others. Like the vista security ad – now thats a funny ad!!
I’m glad it was pulled. To the average person, it made it seem like all the “buzz” about OS X being on the upswing wasn’t true. As far as it being FUD, half the people on THIS site miss the point/satire of posts(like those from the idiot Zung Tang)-do you really expect the “average” viewer to get the point of that ad?
Thanks for the advice @ Dijonaise, i got on the blower to the Apple ad peeps straight away, and guess what?
– I am in at the top, coz i get it, hence my first creative direction to those esoteric, pot smoking, pony-tailed, la la bunnies was, create a epic motion picture, a trilogy of four movies no less. Revolving around a French windmill, a pair of clogs and the Beastie Boys – big ups to you ChrissyOne for the Beastie Boys concept by the way.
@ Dijonaise you are the dog’s bullocks for getting me all geed up and back into my true great calling – abstract thinking … clogs, windmills, sabotage, where will it all end.
Please wait with bated breath for the ironic but not to subtle story of twisted love –
A forbidden and perverted amour between two mismatched entities, brought together by a paradox of archaic and modern gravitational antibiosis.
A love of one … whose once larger than life and corrupted existence is now spiraling inwardly into a grim, barren and unimaginative world, a world filled with delusions and disorder, presently to be concluded with an ignominious whimper … For another, whose radiant, cogent free spirit and an amour de la vie is founded upon a unwavering esprit de corps, that over time has blossomed into an unparalleled tour de force.
Where once the good times seemed to .. er .. umm
…………
Mon Dieu! is that the time – It’s no good, i can’t cut the mustard with this French shite.
It got pulled because it was a crappy ad.
Yes, it was hard to understand for the masses. Also, the two men are supposed to represent computers, or some computer hardware/peripheral. This sabotage guy was neither. It was whitty, but was way out of line with their other ads.
OMG! I just realized something!
On the tech specs page for Tiger on apple.com, there used to be eight periods and fourteen commas ! ! !
WTF? ! ! !
Two of the periods are gone and THREE of the commas have vanished ! ! !
WHAT IS GOING ON? Please explain this. Does appleinsider or thinksecret have any insights from their sources? Could this be a slip-up revealing one of Leopard’s secret, new features? I think someone should count ALL of the punctuation just to be sure.
Actually, the simplest explanation is probably because the only ads remaining on the page are related to MS Vista. Concidence? I think not…
The upshot is that Apple could be prepping more ads that poke fun at Vista’s other shortcomings?
My guess: They pulled it because it didn’t sell Macs. What “PC” does here doesn’t really reflect the failings of actual Windows PCs – it’s just a comment on some bloggers, and maybe Bill Gates.
Your average guy on the street doesn’t follow computer media and ad trends close enough to understand what is being commented on. It’s not about anyone being stupid – do you know how Kellogg’s and General Mills have been advertising lately?
I’m currently house-sitting for a PC-using friend and accessing the internet from her computer. What a joke! Top-of-the-line all the way and it totally sucks! For starters, Firefox crashes every time I try to play one of the “Get a Mac” ads! Pretty funny!
Unsquirted has a good point, why are we concerned about the missing commercial. Commercials are suppose to be annoying spots on tv that give you a break to go get a snack. Its just like the people who criticized all the commercials during the superbowl. Of course Macs are dear to our hearts and me for one probably obsesses about them too much. I just wrote a blog last night about my love for Apple Inc. (not a weird love) Otherwise I wouldnt really care about all the commercials and keynotes and product launches.
Clyde – http://www.christiancarsalesman.com
Uh, 8 + 14 = 22. However, subtracting 2+3, [which equals 5] leaves a total of 17. And, 1 + 7 = 8. This is a very lucky power number to the Chinese.
Are you suggesting that the Chinese are getting a licence to use Mac OSX Tiger for their computer industry?
Also, were those periods and commas run-over by tanks? Do any of their punctuational neighbours know their whereabouts?
Congratulations on your promotion. It’s truly amazing that it took less than 7 hours for you to get a job at Apple, especially since the entire interview and your presentations occurred outside of normal business hours.
I can hardly wait to experience the headiness of your craft or is it the hideousness of your crap. You obviously have a talent for mental excrement.
Do I need to explain the word sabotage, again?
Bloke: OMG! I think you cracked the code! Get somewhere safe NOW!
<cue black helicopter fwap-fwap-fwap sound>
Now, who here has bravely decided to audit the sitewide contents of apple.com?
We’re counting on you counting on them. Count on it.
Back up now. Just checked.
Jay, don’t insult the mighty ZT,fool.
Welcome to the social.
OMG! I think you cracked the code! Get somewhere safe NOW!
<cue black helicopter fwap-fwap-fwap sound>
…begin decoding…
OMG! NOW!
<>
…Reverse-Order Arrows mean…
GMO WON!!
Who’s GMO? What did they win?
Is Gmo Won, Obi’s brother?
My question: is there a bigger DORK on the MDN boards than Unsquirted?
Hail Big Brother.
Wednesday 5pm Central.
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
First ad that came up for me was Sabotage…
Winston,
‘Unsquirted’ has a bigger dork?
Don’t be jealous. You were made the way you need to be.