Posted on 11/09/2006 5:37:46 PM PST by Vermonter
No the other one
By Nick Farrell: Thursday 09 November 2006, 08:51
MAKER OF entertainment gear, Apple has decided to dump its 'Mac Guy' advertisements because the character is a 'smug little twit'. According to Radar Online, the advertising campaign was designed to show a PC guy and a Mac Guy talking about the advantages of their different systems. Of course the Mac Guy was supposed to win the argument.
Alas while viewing audiences felt that while the Mac Guy may have proved his case, most of them wanted to pummel the smug little twit into a coma and jump on his bleeding body until the cops arrived.
In fact most of them liked the PC guy, John Hodgman, better, which was not really the point.
The Mac Guy was Justin Long, whose agent has confirmed that he is no longer hawking Macs for Apple and was getting on with his memorable film career. When the ads came out, Seth Stevenson, ad critic for Slate, complained that Long was just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast.
Please ping the usual suspects
LOL, I thought this was an Andy Borowitz piece at first!
"Seth Stevenson, ad critic for Slate,"
It amazes me what passes for 'a real job' these days.
I think that I wacked the little weasel through my TV a few dozen times. Seeya, punk.
Actually I thought the kid was pretty good in GALAXY QUEST as the nerdy fan who ends up saving the day.
Howard Dean works for Apple?
Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Is anyone left to turn out the lights?
I still like the former Dell guy ("Dude!"........), despite his dustup with a pot charge. Steve was funny.
Insulting your potential new customers isn't usually a good marketing tactic.
Damn! My thoughts exactly. He reminds me of every cocky 22-year-old street punk I've ever known (one in particular).
PING!
So what are you using at the moment an Amiga 500 ???
Don't let the title fool ya. He also empties wastebaskets, mops the men's room, and replaces the urinal cakes. "Ad critic" is listed on his job function under "other duties as assigned."
Apple should bring back the stoned girl from their last ad campaign to be in these commercials instead. Much more representative of what they try to sell to the masses.
http://spherule.com/media/video/switch/ellen_feiss.mov
I actually thought it was a good series of ads and would work in the long-run.
But then I used an apple in 1985 (21 years ago) that actually worked better than today's Microsoft garbage.
Isn't the PC guy on The Daily Show now?
No, I'm in the Wintel world, but that doesn't mean I have to like the Gates-bots. I have owned a Mac (long ago) but was never one of the Mac worshippers either. Either way, they're just tools to me, nothing to get all misty eyed over.
He's gay.
Great ads, go see them here before they're gone:
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
He was also fun on the show "Ed" as the aspiring filmmaker.
Agree. The PC guy was funny and you felt sorry for him. The Mac guy played straight man.
My god! She is stoned out of her frickin' mind!! LOL!!
True but actually my reference to the Amiga 500 does get me a little misty eyed.I owned one back in the late 80's and for the time frame and the price point it was the best machine on the market !!!
Remember when he got busted for drugs? Everybody was saying "Dude, you going to jail!"
It gave his character more credibility as far as I'm concerned.
One of my employees remarked how ironic it was that Apple finally found a spokesman who represented their product perfectly and had to fire him because they didn’t want to insult their smug little twit customers.
Team her up with the PC guy for commercials. Damnit, I really should be working in the entertainment industry.
I think that I wacked the little weasel through my TV a few dozen times. Seeya, punk.
______________________________________________________
I thought wacking the weasel would make you go blind. Be careful.
They should have re-written the one with Corinne Bohrer as the "counselor" by reprising her role in "Dead Solid Perfect"!
I support users of both Mac and Windows (We have no Linux/Unix users outside the IT department).
Mac users are, indeed, quite arrogant about the alleged superiority of their Macs. Personally, I don't see it. But what do I know? I'm just an IT grunt.
The "unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast" reminds me a lot of that 'smug little twit' Steve Jobs (whom I personally know) in his younger days. :-)
Hey! I liked those Mac ads, and have collected them all. They are masterpieces. I actually thought that they were clever in making both characters likeable, and not being too hard on the poor PC guy.
The best ad was the one with the PC guy's angel and devil, and the one with PC in his disguise to attempt to avoid spyware. The most recent one with the counselor was a great parody of social work, and another under-the-radar promotion for Mac.
The Mac is just better. After all, what kind of a user interface has you turn off your computer by hitting the "Start" button?
But I am not arrogant about this! The way I figure it, the lower orders have a perfect right to by inferior products if they wish.
No sh!t!!!
I thought I was good at facial and recognition but my hat's off!
BTW, is Sigourney Weaver hot as a blonde or what?
First the Dell Dude, and now this! Is nobody safe in computer advertizing?
What kind of software isn't even compatible with over 90% of the computers on the planet?
I believe I was first in line! :0)
I'm a Mac user and I liked the commercials too. I don't believe I'm arrogant about my Mac computers either. But I must say, that I've been a member of FR since '97 and have yet to see a thread from a Mac user asking for tech help over some error message or crashed system.
Good riddance. While I have no great love for Windoze, I found those commercials irritating and condescending.
When my family makes a move away from winblows, it'll be to open source most likely, not to Mac which I see as just a different colored hole.
Most Mac users are likely over at DU.
Wow, docbnj, you pretty much captured "smug little twit" perfectly there, hehe.
This pretty much sums up most Mac users:
http://www.edharriss.com/images/fun/iproduct.jpg
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