A lot has been said about Microsoft and their efforts to counterattack Apple’s brilliant ‘Get a Mac’ ads by launching their own ‘I’m a PC’ ads, which is a part of their $300 million campaign. After scrapping the Gates-Seinfeld ads, the ads now feature a John Hodgman lookalike who claims, “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” The ad is followed by many other humans who claim that they’re PCs. Apparently, as it was with WALL·E, there are a few Apple Connections with these ads too.

1. ’I’m a PC’ campaign created with Macs

Can you believe that! Flickr user LuisDS has found out, through the metadata of the official creative copy of the “stereotyped PC user” and other photos appearing on Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” website, that the images were created on a Macintosh. And it doesn’t end there. Microsoft, instead of using their own Expression Studio software, which they claim “takes your creative possibilities to a new level”, were found using Adobe Photoshop CS3 (on a Mac, no less) from Adobe’s popular Creative Suite. Expectedly, Microsoft folks have now covered up their mistake by removing all the data from the images. Not just that, this article on RoughlyDrafted goes on to claim that the ads were audio-mixed on Macs too. I guess it’s true, creative minds always choose a Mac.

[Milind: As a sidenote, the Windows logo, packaging, the blueprints of Bill Gates’s house, a lot of previous Microsoft ads, and most PC magazines were also created on a Mac.]

2. Pharrell Williams uses a Mac too

Pharrell Williams, or simply ‘Pharrell’, the American music producer, songwriter, and rapper, features in the Micrsoft ads along with other celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra, claiming “I’m a PC”. Well, okay; but as it turns out, Pharrell is also an ardent Apple lover. According to MediaBistro, Pharrell owns an iPhone and has gone on record singing praises for his iPod in interviews. Not just that, he also apparently uses a Mac.

It seems you can make anyone talk what you want them to as long as money is involved. [Ed note: You know what they say, “you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink”.]

3. John Hodgman, Mr. PC himself, uses an iPhone 

OK, so this isn’t exactly related directly to Microsoft and its campaign, but it’s about the PC guys adoring Apple and is quite interesting. John Hodgman, Mr. PC from Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ ads, was recently seen using an iPhone. I wonder how he finds time off his busy schedule of stopping users from ‘Switching to a Mac”. Although it is not too clear whether he bought it himself or Steve just gifted him one, seeing the popularity of the ‘Get a Mac’ ads, but the fact remains that he’s still drooling over the ‘Gadget of the Year’.

I think I get it now: it doesn’t matter what type of PC user you are (since PC is more of a generalised term; you may be a PC user using Windows, Linux distros, or BSD), there’s nothing that can stop you from adoring an Apple product.

In Advertising, Humour on 25 Sep, 2008| |