Apple today has debuted two new “Get a Mac” ads on U.S. broadcast and cable television networks.
In “Top of the Line, ” the customer wants a great computer, so she gets a Mac, of course:
Direct link via YouTube here.
“Top of the Line” PC is played by Patrick Warburton who played Seinfeld’s “David Puddy,” voiced “Ken” in Seinfeld’s Bee Movie, and currently stars on the U.S television series Rules of Engagement (CBS), among many other roles.
MacDailyNews Take: When you’re ready to compromise… We would have used “settle” instead, but we’re not complaining.
In “Surprise,” PC tries a new way to sell Windows PCs, but, as always, fails in the end – just like a real Windows PC:
Direct link via YouTube here.
MacDailyNews Take: After viewing this spot, it feels like we’ve been expecting this one for awhile and we’re glad to finally have it.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Judge Bork,” “Fred Mertz,” and “MacRadDoc” for the heads up.]
I am disappointed in these ads. They should talk about iLife, the unibody, or iChat. The virus issue is old. This is the third ad with shoppers, the PC commercials must be having some affect that they feel the need to take them on.
I am surprised that they put this out just before the launch of SL. I would think they would want to show that off. Maybe we will see some new ones in 2 weeks.
@Ting
That’s it!! Jujitsu! For my fellow Westerners that’s: “Using the opponents momentum against him”. that’s akin to my “handing the PC guy a shovel” comment earlier.
Hand two guys a shovel. One will dig a hole, the other will dig himself into a hole. It all depends on who’s digging.
Is the Mac Guy smug? Maybe smug is not the word. The Mac Guy is not encouraging the PC guy, he’s more trying to convince him how not to dig the whole.
But I do think it’s time for Apple to start focusing on the merits of the machine. The “no virus” thing won’t be a selling point much longer.
@ theloniousMac
The Mac is sold on its technological merits… the fact that its relatively virus free IS A TECHNOLOGICAL merit! Its not simply by chance, or because serious coders aren’t trying. Don’t believe the crap the so-called professional security analysts are spewing. You don’t think it would be a huge feather i the cap of the coder that happened to be the first to create a real Mac virus! They’re trying believe me, they’ve been trying.
…”You don’t say negative things about your own brand in your ads! Once an idea gets lodged in people’s brains, they can’t recall where they heard it.”
Where exactly did you see negative things about “our own” brand? It must have been late in the day, and you must have been tired…
Ordinary (PC) people actually love these ads (for the most part). By now, they treat them as a soap opera (or a long-running sitcom). They wait to see what’s the next one going to be about.
The ad people behind this have been paying attention. These days, vast majority of Windows sufferers complain about viruses. Nothing else in the Windows world annoys them more than the threat and the destructive power of malware. This is the most effective line of attack. And obviously, this is where they will hurt the most.
Keep them coming! There has never been more effective campaign from Apple.
As for MDN’s take on “compromise”, I don’t think it’s weaker than “settle”. The way I understand the use of “compromise” here is in the sense as in “to compromise the network security”, or “to do something where the troops could be compromised” (or, as the dictionary widget defines it: “bring into disrepute or danger by indiscreet, foolish, or reckless behavior”). It’s the very definition of choosing a PC…
Yeah, I’m just not seeing the smugness. For the most part, the Mac guy just stands there. The PC fanboys just see what they want to see in these commercials. And yes, thelonius, one day there will be a destructive Mac virus. On that day there will be 1 malicious Mac virus versus the 250,000 Windows ones. The only people who say the Mac is invulnerable are Windows fans.
Love “Top of the Line”, if for no other reason than Puddy appears as…himself. Priceless.
One for time for theioniousmac.
“And someday, in the not too distant future, there is going to be some horrible, destructive, Mac virus, and Apple is going to have to eat one big ugly crow.
The Mac should be sold on its relative technological merits, not the virus crap. It’s just a constant taunt.”
—–Some day in the future, a giant asteroid is going to crash into the earth and destroy all life here. We should all die now to save time. Cause…….. you know……. its going to happen………
right??? ——
Please Ionious, buy a PC and enjoy some smugness.
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Just a thought.
en
“But I do think it’s time for Apple to start focusing on the merits of the machine. The “no virus” thing won’t be a selling point much longer.”
As other people have mentioned, that is not the selling point. The point is (# viruses on Mac) << thousands on PC. Whether that number is zero or one (sometime in the future) won’t change the commercial.
Both these masterful commercials enable PC users to relax and laugh at themselves. Both also feature appealing young women interacting with men in a 30 second timeframe.
This reminds me of Professor Richard Wiseman’s work to scientifically identify the world’s best Speed Dating pickup line:…The winner? “If you were a pizza topping, what kind of pizza topping would you be?” The entire idea being to make the other person relax and laugh at themselves (in 30 seconds).
They are lame.
If this is the best they can do, Apple is in trouble.
I can’t believe those were the roles MDN mentioned for Patrick Warburton.
Patrick Warburton is best known as the voice of Joe on Family Guy, the voice of Brock Sampson on The Venture Brothers, and was also the star of the short-lived live-action The Tick sitcom. He’s got serious geek cred.
——RM
Actually Mary, the best Apple can do is their products. You don’t need as much ad space after that. Not to mention that most people disagree and love these ads.
The best MS can do is their ads. That is why they are in trouble…
“Once an idea gets lodged in people’s brains, they can’t recall where they heard it.” – andintroducing
If ideas could get lodged in people’s brains, advertising would not exist.
“I am disappointed in these ads. They should talk about iLife, the unibody, or iChat. The virus issue is old.” – Sarasota too
It’s old to us Mac users. It is VERY current/timely and pertinent to the average PC user.
Most PCs I’ve seen at my job open programs in 1 minute as opposed to 3-4 seconds on a Mac. The average person I see is bogged down with malware, spyware and actual viruses, not to mention speed-killing firewalls and anti-virus/anti-spyware programs constantly running.
Does anyone else think these get a mac adverts are lame?
Apple should actually advertise the Macs and OS X, not these moronic men pretending to be Macs.
I cannot believe why such acted out stupidity could lead anyone to want to buy a mac. Like my phone co submerging me with images of geckos, dogs, cats to lure me to upgrade my system or buy a cell phone. Only morons…
@theloniousMac
Ugh! I hate that smug, holier than though Mac guy too… the way he just stands there saying nothing while everyone else talks, and then at the end when the girl decides she wants to go with the Mac, he says “Great” and shakes that girls hand. Argh!!! Can you be any more elitist and high and mighty!!! …So obnoxious, that Mac guy.
Brau “but I seriously didn’t expect to see the Mac and PC guys again as the idea is growing a bit old. “
Ronald McDonald is getting old, the “Verizon Guy” has been around longer than the Mac vs PC guys, and what about Orville Redenbacher? In relative scheme of things, as far as advertising campaigns go, Mac vs PC guys are relatively new.
They keep them fresh by continually making new ads and not just running old ones over and over.
Also, to theloniousMac and anyone else who thinks that the Mac guy is smug, it’s in the eye of the beholder. He’s not doing anything that would make him out to be smug.
@Smack! (or for Smack!)
For those of you who didn’t get Smack!s tone–that was brilliant sarcasm, if i do say so myself.
I think “Surprise” is taking a jab at Windows 7. Win7 is the closest that MS has taken the Windows GUI to look and feel like the Mac GUI. Vista already copied many features of OS X, and Win7 has gone further with the revamped Taskbar, Aero Peek, Jump Lists, etc. MS has even gone so far as to use a numeric naming convention just like Apple. (Where was Windows 4, 5, and 6?) Win7 is disguising itself to look like OS X, but underneath it all it is still a clunky, virus prone PC.
@macdofan:
<<<I cannot believe why such acted out stupidity could lead anyone to want to buy a mac.>>>
The best advertising is subliminal and acts on the viewers subconscious. My fellow Americans don’t know why they buy what they buy, they just buy.
@Lorax
Windows XP was named after Mac OS X. Win 7 is less of a copy name-wise than XP was.
macdofan I cannot believe why such acted out stupidity could lead anyone to want to buy a.. (fill in the blank)…Only morons…
Leaving PT Barnum aside, people do not make conscious decisions for most of what they do, even intelligent people who perceive they make conscious intelligent decisions for everything. This is simply not true, this is not how the human brain works, it never has and never will.
The subconscious part of your brain makes the vast majority of decisions of what you do for you. Most never even rise to the conscious level, but those that do, most are made up in your subconscious mind before you are aware that there is a decision to be made, and then your mind later rationalizes the decision you already made in your subconscious to give you the appearance of a rational conscious decision.
This is merely an illusion. A trick your mind plays on you.
Humans are baboons with a slightly enhanced ability to communicate, especially verbally. Nothing more.
Awww C’mon Folks
Mac Guy is Bugs Bunny just standing there minding his own business
And is never “smug” to ask your Neighbor, “Eh, What’s Up PC?”
Well, as long as you’re not chomping a carrot …
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Now, on a more “serious” note …
Been catching up on that TV Show – Mad Men
Very Interesting™
Not sure how to describe – like Father Knows Best meets Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, and SNL
But sure does shine a 50 year old light on Shoveling Bull Shit
Check it out – Mad Men – then these Ads will make a LOT of sense
BC