Apple fires 'smug little twit'

The Inquirer ^ | 11/9/2006 | Nick Farell

[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.

[bygolly]

That teletype machine brings back memories. I remember having an engineering class where we could use a PDP-11 minicomputer that such a teletype and programmed using a language called FOCAL. We used the yellow punch tape to save and load programs. That was fun!

[bygolly]

The IMSAI 8080 was a classic. As of a couple of years ago, you could get an IMSAI with an ATX board also inside, Here

[zeugma]

Swordmaker,

Real world examples of the hassels of making PCs aware of anything external to them aren't appreciated by some here. 

[Xenalyte]

"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

I always quote that line when I play with the dog.

Wrench-dodging? I'd think the dog would figure out not to play with you, after awhile. ;)

[hobbes1]

He was alsovin Dodgeball. One of the funniest movies scenes ever is, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

s me into hysterics EVERY single time I watch it...

"You over there...QB..."
"who uhh...bcause I'm not...."

[Sam Cree]

If Apple is going to fire its smug little twit, then Dell ought to fire its selfish little jerks - who wants to buy a computer that glorifies selfishness? I have to think the advertising reflects the corporate policy on some level.

[antiRepublicrat]

My god! She is stoned out of her frickin' mind!! LOL!!

Benadryl.

[TC Rider]

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.

All the good Mac tech gurus are at DU

[ichabod1]

I liked the campaign.

[retrokitten]

LMAO!

Patches has some of the best lines and most of them would get us at least a time out for posting them. ;-)

[TET1968]

I agree, I thought the ad was a winner and actually...the Mac character does accurately represent the hundreds of Apple geniuses out there helping the tech challenged masses of which I am included, learn how to make and capture Google Earth flyovers and then insert them in a slide show theme card and then.......

Vermonter is right, the stoned girl ad is great.Almost as good as the Trunk Monkey series.IMHO
http://spherule.com/media/video/switch/ellen_feiss.mov
http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com/4qt.htm

[TET1968]

"What kind of software isn't even compatible with over 90% of the computers on the planet?"

Right now, that sounds like "Conservative" software to me.

[TechJunkYard]

I liked the campaign.

Me too. I especially liked that little Japanese printer/fax/copier that the Mac Guy was interfacing with. ;-)

[ichabod1]

I'd be astonished to hear anybody ever call Algore "little."

[TET1968]

Your wasting your breath.....Let it go.
I think some on this board need to attend artist sensitivity classes.
Not all creative people take dope, go around unwashed, stage photographs of a crucifix in urine, support "Jetson" architecture, burn the flag and vote Democratic.

Some of us volunteered for Vietnam, shower and floss twice a day, wear Burberry raincoats, worship God, drive a Benz and vote conservative.

[ichabod1]

I like to look at her. It makes me feel... calm.

[July 4th]

"How about a nice game of chess?"

[mass55th]

"All the good Mac tech gurus are at DU"

Well, my oldest son is a Mac tech and a Dem (grrrr), but he's not hanging out at DU. Even though I'm a Conservative, he still sets up all my new computers and gives me advice on what software to install. I think he does it because he knows I could probably still kick his ass, even though I'm his mother :-)

I guess if I couldn't get one of my two boys to be a doctor or a vet, the next best thing is to have a computer geek in the family...even if he is a Democrat. They are at least good for something.

[TC Rider]

I used to be a dem liberal, got over that in the 70s.

I was a Mac Guru until '97 and got over that also.

I'm now a 54 yo PC IT Manager and a conservative.

There's hope for your son.

[Sue Perkick]

Same impression I had.