“Jerry Seinfeld has pulled the old switcheroo,” Maxine Shen reports for The New York Post. “No more Windows for Bill Gates’ former best pal — the comic has apparently gone back to his first love, Apple [Mac] computers.”
“In 2008, Microsoft paid Seinfeld $10 million to pitch its Windows Vista operating system,” Shen reports.
“But that measly amount bought only one year of his loyalty — and he’s legally free to defect to the competition,” Shen reports. “The funnyman is currently appearing on TV sitting behind a conspicuously placed MacBook Pro. He showed up with his Mac a week ago on an episode of the HBO comedy series ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ where he and series star Larry David are shown putting together a ‘Seinfeld’ reunion program.”
“Pairing the comic with PCs was an odd choice from the start, because when Seinfeld was master of his own domain, he had been associated with Macs,” Shen reports. “Classic versions of Apple computers popped up regularly on ‘Seinfeld,’ usually sitting on a desk in Jerry’s TV apartment.”
Shen reports, “An early Mac ad even used a clip of a young Seinfeld doing stand-up.”
Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” ad featuring Jerry Seinfeld which aired only once during the series finale of Seinfeld:
Direct link via YouTube here.
Full article here.
Who wouldn’t switch for 10M$ ??? However, after fulfilling the contractual obligation he dropped MS like a dirty diaper. You can’t buy ” cool ” or ” hip “. It has to be in a company’s DNA. We’ll see what a flop the MS retail stores will be. If MS is smart, they’ll drop that plan quickly before it drains more of their money and profits.
“Do you ever notice the networks still cover up the Apple logo when they shoot a TV scene?”
Not necessarily. As someone answered, logo is only covered when the producers wanted, but didn’t get Apple’s product placement money, or when product placement money is paid by Apple’s direct competitor.
“Apple does’t pay for product placement. When you see an Apple product in a TV show or a film it’s because someone in the production wanted it there.”
That is actually not true. While there are instances (especially in feature films, where product placement doesn’t happen so often) that a MacBook is prominently shown, even though Apple didn’t pay for it, you can easily find out for which network TV shows does Apple regularly pay for product placement.
At the end, during the credits, a message will appear: “Promotional consideration paid by:” followed by a list of companies. On “House, MD”, “Californication” (for these two I know for sure), Apple will always be on that list (principal characters in these shows use MacBooks, iPods, iPhones and such, in every episode).
While this is a common urban legend that Apple doesn’t pay promotional consideration, they actually DO. However, unlike vast majority of other brands, Apple brand is rarely, if ever obscured when product placement wasn’t paid for, but producer/production designer/director/script asked for an iPhone, MacBook, iMac or similar (unlike Dell, HP or others, which you can never recognise, and which are always made to look like generic computers).
In other words, very often, on a contemporary TV show, script will say:
"FOREMAN pulls out iPhone and takes a picture of PATIENT's home". Or:CHUCKMorgan! Hey, ah, buddy, do we carry any Rush CDs in
the store?
MORGAN
No need. I got them all in my Zune.
CHUCK
You have a Zune?
MORGAN
Are you kidding me? No, no. Ill grab my iPod.
Luckily for Apple, such situations come up very often.
Everytime I see that video posted I have to watch it. I feel compelled, almost un-naturally. Such a fine piece of work.
What is interesting, is that almost everyone in that ad is dead, except for Seinfeld and Ali I think.
Who cares. He’s paid for whoring anything and eveything. Microshit gets what is coming to them. 10 million. What a bunch of stupid fsckups.
Hmmm.
My craving for Churros has returned …
For 10 million USD not only would I endorse Windows but I would sell a hell of a lot more of them than Seinfeld did.
@Predrag: That Chuck quote is one of my all time favorites!
Actually, this situation was the seed for the Loren ads. It was supposed to be celebrity driven but this first attempt backfired !
For ten mil I would even sit on Ballmer’s lap. I figure I would only need one mil of that to pay for the therapy sessions afterwards.
I say we let him back in, but No Soup For You!
Microsoft paid $10M for the following two results:
1) People thinking the company (and Gates) being clueless and stupid, with those pointless ads that got people discussing whether PCs are better than Macs or what.
2) People finally seeing that indeed, Macs remain superior, and that Microsoft had to stop showing those stupid ads and Seinfeld finally deciding Macs are indeed superior after all.
Thanks for the $10M viral marketing to benefit Apple, Microsoft.
Hell, I’d do it for that much money. Though a large sum would be the only way I’d suffer through a year of Winduhz only compuking.
For $10M, I’d “use” Windows too.
Then sneak off to my other house and USE my Macs.
Seinfeld had a sweet 20th Anniversary bronze Mac on his desk at one point. Father of the iMac!
I like how in most of the Disney shows they have laptops with a pear in place of the Apple logo.
“Do you ever notice the networks still cover up the Apple logo when they shoot a TV scene?”
I see Apple logos all over the place on 30 Rock. (NBC) ;o)
I doubt that he actually stopped using a Mac. Like his TV show, those commercials were really about “nothing.” In the commercials, he never says he uses Windows. In fact, I don’t recall “Windows” ever being discussed directly.
@Predrag
You are correct sir, but “@HMCIV” is partly right.
Over the 16 years I’ve worked in Film/TV (in Europe) I have seen A Mac being chosen over any PC, even when not specified or sponsored by Apple, simply because the Art Department, Props Director or even members of the Crew prefer them.
People in Film/TV are heavily Mac orientated (with the exception of accountants).
That makes me think of a good idea, Microsoft can restart the economy. Instead of paying billions of dollars in advertising why not pay people to use their product for one year, just like Seinfeld. Payout can be like this:
Windows 7 = $40,000 a year
x-Box = $1,000 a year
Zune = $3,500 a year
Windows Mobile = $10,000
Total = $54,500 a year.
Any takes? lol.
I’d do the same thing even for 1.000.000$ !
And then spend some of them on the new hi-end quad-core MBP
which will come out just before Christmas ^_^
And in America (i.e. Hollywood), situation is even more pronounced. You’d be very hard pressed to find ANYONE in the creative industry who does NOT use a Mac (screenwriters, directors, set designers, costume designers, production designers, cinematographers, editors), and that applies even for talent agencies, publicists and other satellite people incidental to the creative folk. Based on that, Apple surely pays much less for promotional consideration than competition, considering the amount of exposure.
Jerry’s no fool, but Bill is!
Whore!
@ Predrag
I believe you.
Off the top of my head I can only remember two Americans that I worked with over here that used a PC.
One was an Accountant (surprise, surprise) & the other was an Assistant Director (very unusual).
It’s nice to see Windows users a minority where I work!