Bad Ally ([info]zenith) wrote,
@ 2007-02-05 11:27:00
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"Hello, I'm a twat"
So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.

I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did.

Charlie Brooker on the most annoying, career-wrecking-if-there's-any-justice adverts in quite some time.

Also hilarious: spot the glaringly idiotic and typically Guardian error in the piece, and then scroll down to the first comment to see Brooker doing his "I am justifiably appalled and want to kill myself" schtick at the expense of the sub-editor who added it.

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[info]plumsbitch
2007-02-05 11:45 am UTC (link)
absolutely! That comment just made me fall in love with him all over again.

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[info]alexmacpherson
2007-02-05 11:48 am UTC (link)
I'm going to buy a Mac this week.

I don't like the ads but everyone I know seems to have been sent incandescent by them, I don't get why they're particularly obnoxious compared to all other ads ever. Who are the people in it anyway and why do people care?

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[info]cis
2007-02-05 04:01 pm UTC (link)
I didn't know who the people in it were until reading that column (where it tells you who those people are, they're on a comedy show on telly): I dislike the ads because they're hateful. And make me embarassed-by-association to be a mac user: i'm not one of those smug cvnts! honest! i just like my pwbk, it is pretty and friendly and very useable.

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[info]alexmacpherson
2007-02-05 06:02 pm UTC (link)
I hadn't read the column until just now! It's as bad as the ads frankly, ie very bad but not noteworthily so because Brooker, and computer ads, are ALWAYS this bad. I agree about the Grau subs though, I have that EXACT issue with them. Also they are the first people I've ever written for who make my sentences worse rather than better.

I dunno, I'm just getting a powerbook on Gareth's advice. Macs don't get viruses apparently, and the price difference is erased via Sam's student discount, and if I got a PC I'd get a Dell and that would be awful cos I use a Dell at work and it would feel like I was never getting away from it, and also Macs are prettier.

Also, prior to last week I had NO IDEA about all of this identification stuff wrt Macs/PCs!

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[info]alexmacpherson
2007-02-05 06:03 pm UTC (link)
also if those people are on a comedy show on TV they are ALREADY bad, wrong, evil people.

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[info]iamus
2007-02-05 12:03 pm UTC (link)
The adverts are shite and Webb is an actor of little-to-no talent, but sometimes I think Charlie Brooker just needs to eat a whole packet of Tums and have a nice lie down.

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Hello, I'm a Vintage Typewriter
[info]jackfear
2007-02-05 12:12 pm UTC (link)
The Mac ads ultimately fail, I think, because of a quirk of human personality; people love to root for the underdog. Mac could have turned this to their advantage, of course, since Apple is undeniably an underdog in real-world terms, holding as it does something like 3% of the total computer market—but Apple's triumphalist corporate mentality would never allow for that.

It's interesting to me how this global ad campaign is playing out. It seems like they're hewing pretty closely to the template: I've seen most of the ads in the Japanese campaign, and they're precisely the same as the American ads, down to the pratfalls and the physical comedy.

Interesting, though, that in the only one of the Mitchell and Webb ads that I've seen, they depart from the American model and essentially try to make the PC look as unpleasant as possible. It seems weird and off-note to me; in all the other spots, the assumed "personalities" of the two machines are used to highlight their functionality. In this spot, though, functionality is barely mentioned—it's a straight-up character assassination.

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[info]theorybitch
2007-02-05 12:18 pm UTC (link)
Those ads are an exact symptom of everything that is wrong with the world. I really love Macs (though I have a PC) but they make me not want to go anywhere near the bloomin' things.

Are the British ones sexist, too? Have you seen the American version of a Mac and a PC home movie hanging out? OMFG.

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[info]blahflowers
2007-02-05 12:25 pm UTC (link)
The thing is, in about ten years of owning a PC, I've never had a virus that completely fucked my machine, because I bought a fucking virus-checker and keep it up to date. I didn't get spam emails until I foolishly signed up my home email with a Google Group and, now I've unsubscribed, the spam seems to be abating. And while the first computer I had did have a problem playing games, because it was Windows '95 and didn't like going to DOS so the games would load, once I got Windows '98 or later crashing was a minimal problem at worst, crashing probably less than a dozen times a year.

So I've never seen the point of the Mac versus PC wars because, even as a user of Microsoft products I've never had that much of a problem with the reliability of my machines.

I did like how Apple have signed up with the Guardian so, while reading Charlie's column, on the right hand side of the screen there's one of those very Apple ads. I'm surprised that the Guardian subs only piddled around with his grammar, they could have spiked the piece.

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[info]carrot_rope
2007-02-05 12:53 pm UTC (link)
Well, isn't it symptomatic of something that you actually have to buy a virus checker and keep it up to date?

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[info]pot80
2007-02-05 03:01 pm UTC (link)
You don't have to buy anything, that shit is free, son.

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[info]carrot_rope
2007-02-05 03:11 pm UTC (link)
He said brought! That always makes me think "buy". I know you can get them free!

But still, it's unnecessary hassle, free or not.

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[info]fridgemagnet
2007-02-05 12:40 pm UTC (link)
Hello and welcome to last year, Charlie. Oh, and "one button mouse" hahahahaha yeah that's a new one too.

Seriously, that was shit, although maybe I hold him to higher standards than a lot of columnists.

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[info]jeff_worrell
2007-02-05 12:50 pm UTC (link)
Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them)

erm, no. I'd never heard of them before last week. Certainly never seen them in anything but these horrible ads.

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[info]carrot_rope
2007-02-05 12:57 pm UTC (link)
Ah, it's a long way from Peep Show.

I don't understand why they've done these ads now, the American ones have been around for so long - and if they had to use the ad at all - surely would have sufficed for an English market.

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[info]jackfear
2007-02-05 01:03 pm UTC (link)
Consider it payback for the Americanized version of The Office.

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[info]pot80
2007-02-05 03:02 pm UTC (link)
Wait, are you saying that these British ads started off a bit awkward, but ultimately became much, much better than the originals?

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[info]prayinmantis
2007-02-06 04:06 am UTC (link)
OH SNAP

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[info]holzfallen
2007-02-05 01:10 pm UTC (link)
Am I the only one who can't tell much difference between the two?

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[info]jauntyalan
2007-02-05 01:12 pm UTC (link)
the thing that has always annoyed me about the ads is that they perpetuate the "type of person who has a X" bollox which is accentuated by the UK version - as brooker points out -not that this hadn't escaped everyone's notice.

i don't think this "apple person/pc person" thing works in apple's favour. maybe it does in the US, where the ads seem popular. my impression is that uk mac owners seemed do dislike the US and the UK ones even mroe.

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[info]janinazew
2007-02-05 01:53 pm UTC (link)
I thought the ad on the Guardian site was funny. Sorry.

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[info]cis
2007-02-05 02:09 pm UTC (link)
The best thing about the Japanese PC v Mac ads is that the PC uses his iPod to listen to eurobeat!

It's funny, I kind of imagined there was a semi-gentleman's agreement going on in advertising, so people wouldn't usually directly say "here is how [competitor] is rubbish: buy our product" on the grounds that it was nasty and would turn the buying public off. the only other ad market i've seen it in is nappies. and possibly politics.

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[info]freakytigger
2007-02-05 02:35 pm UTC (link)
What do the nappies ads say? I don't pay any attention to nappy ads: I am already BRAND LOYAL.

Attack ads against rivals are very common in the US, I think - there's a perception, which this thread is perhaps bearing out, that they don't go down well in the UK, culturally speaking. Also I think there's more legal protection against malicious claims here.

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[info]cis
2007-02-05 03:58 pm UTC (link)
Nappy ads say something along the lines of '...which are 20% more [absorbent/comfortable] than [huggies equivalent/pampers equivalent]', which is much more polite than this direct-doing-down and also lead me to believe that the mainstream nappy market is a duopoly (is this correct word?). This sort of thing only seems to work in duopoly situations - i mean, okay, you have the banking ads where they compare rates in a big chart, but in household goods ads and cosmetic ads it always seems to be 'A LEADING COMPETITOR' they're compared with, not anyone mentioned by name.

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[info]freakytigger
2007-02-05 04:03 pm UTC (link)
The UK nappies market:

1. Pampers - long-standing disposable nappy titan.
2. Huggies - upstart nappy challenger.
3. Terries I guess - reusable nappies, this is a monopoly basically, also a v.small bit of the market.
4. Supermarket and boots own brand - get quite a lot of shelf space so they must sell OK, but Hugz and Pampz can play on the "buy branded or you are not doing the best for your infant" angle more.
5. Indie disposables, these are mostly emergent green/niche brands for eco-conscious parents who can't be arsed with washables and feel guilty about it. Probably quite fast growing.

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[info]blahflowers
2007-02-08 10:22 pm UTC (link)
Peep Show meets Mac ads.

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You are right
(Anonymous)
2007-02-22 05:12 am UTC (link)
Hi there! Author, you're more than right!
And just cool journal, interesting site name zenith.livejournal.com :), I see you you're are not newbe. Don't stop the nice work!

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