The latest ‘Get a Mac’ ads from Apple are really misleading and pathetic to say the least. The first ad, titled ‘Bean Counter’, makes fun of the $300 million “I’m a PC” marketing campaign, while the second ad, ‘V Word’, makes fun of Microsoft for not using the word ‘Vista’, but just ‘Windows’ in their advertising campaigns.
In reply to the first ad, a few things I want to point out:
- Apple has as big an advertising budget as any other company you know. And most of it is used to mock Microsoft and Vista, instead of marketing OS X features in the ‘Get a Mac’ ads.
- Apple have yet to fix many iPhone and Leopard issues. The few Windows applications made by Apple such as Quicktime, iTunes and Safari are pathetic, buggy and crapware. We have yet to see them fix these apps for good, but in the ads they make us wonder why Microsoft didn’t spend cash on fixing Vista.
- Most people would remember, OS X wasn’t perfect when it was released. It was slow and buggy as well. And Leopard is the fifth iteration of that OS, which has now matured enough to claim respectability. While, Vista is the first of its kind. And by kind, I refer to the new driver model, APIs, UI, kernel updates and various other major changes to the Windows core.
- How about the iPhone? Apple has spent lots to market the iPhone. But the issues and shortcomings, and not to forget the lack of simple basic features of the mighty phone are well known to everyone. But does Apple fix them? Copy Paste? No! Video recording? No! MMS ? No! Plus do we have to remind you of the Mobile Me fiasco? Charging bucks for a service, that isn’t even worth using for free for starters. So Apple, why don’t you put your money where it’s needed?
- How about the insanely expensive iBricks Macbooks? Do I give a crap about the new aluminum process? No way. It’s a notebook, for God’s sake! not jewelry for my girlfriend! If Apple kicks out Firewire, it’s a great decision. If it was Microsoft, Apple would have used that as a reason to ‘Get a Mac’. Do I need say more?
Now, for the second ad.
- Funny Ad Apple. Ironic, that you didn’t mention even a single product of yours in this ad. And you’re calling on Microsoft for doing the same?
Paul Thurrott has put the ridiculousness of Apple in great words:
Irony/hypocrisy alert: For the past two years, Apple has been spending money on advertising designed to make Windows Vista look bad, while not spending money fixing the many problems in their own products. I’m looking at you Leopard, MobileMe, and iPhone 3G. And don’t get me started on the style over substance of the new Macbooks.
Irony/hypocrisy alert 2: The ad comes less than a week after Apple introduced its incredibly expensive new laptops into the worst economic conditions in almost 100 years. And as the Wall Street Journal noted this morning, they did so even though the “average price [of a Mac was already] more than twice as high as computers based on Microsoft’s Windows operating system.” So much for the computer for the rest of us.
Putting all past Apple ads aside, these have been the stupidest ones I’ve seen to date. They rate high in the category of ‘Crap Ads’. Maybe now Microsoft should get aggressive and mock Apple in an ad, by giving an Oscar to Steve Jobs for his true to life acting which fools people into buying anything he shows in his presentations! But alas, Microsoft wont fall that low as Apple does.
