While watching the Giants OT victory over the Bengals today I saw this new Microsoft ad:
The ad is a direct response to Mac’s outstanding I’m a Mac, I’m a PC campaign, which effectively makes the argument that PC users are the dorks and Mac users are the cool kids (full disclosure: I have a Mac laptop from work and a PC desktop at home, and I also have a beard—the pause after the bearded guy says “I have a beard” is perfect). Microsoft takes aim at this classification scheme by having their own John Hodgman look-alike start the commercial waving “Hello, I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype”:
The Microsoft ad is effective at deconstructing the stereotype that the only people who use PCs are cubicle-swelling brown jacket wearing nerds who are really extensions of anti-environment corporate interests.
The ad campaign web site, however, is a complete disgrace, and continues to showcase Microsoft’s inability to understand and design user friendly web sites, operating systems, and applications.