In this commercial the Mac guy introduces himself, but is interrupted by the PC guy. The PC guy comes into the ad in a hospital gown. The Mac guy asks him why he is wearing a hospital gown, and the PC guy says it is because he is getting surgery. The PC guy explains that he is upgrading to windows vista and that he gets nervous when he is messed around with. The Mac guy asks if it is just straight forward, but the PC guys explains it is major surgery. He says like other PC’s he has to undergo major surgery anytime he wants to get a new graphics card, premium packaging, and faster processing. The Mac guy shows remorse and says sorry, while the PC guy tells him if he never comes back he can have something of his.
This is one of those commercials that really bother me. The main reason is because it tries to show how perfect a Mac is and how imperfect a PC is. I own a PC myself and I completely dislike Mac’s. I do think that since I am really against this commercial it will be easy for me to analyze it
I believe the reason this ad bothers me, is because it is really effective. The advertisers are doing something that has been used by many in the past. They are doing the A vs B approach. They are making ‘A’ look great by pointing out all of product ‘B’ flaws. Many advertisers usually say B sucks, because this and this, and A is awesome, because of this and this, but in this ad it is a bit different. The Mac advertisers just point out all of the PC’s flaws, but they never say anything about Mac being better. The audience just kind of assumes and understands that PC needs all this work, but the Mac doesn’t. It is extremely effective, because it says a whole lot without actually saying it.
One of the first things I noticed about this commercial is the people used as the actors and the approach of the ad. The Mac is a young decent looking male who has been in many movies and is recognized by people. The PC is an older non-attractive male who has never been seen before. This in itself shows, if you choose Mac you are going to be more “hip”, attractive and well-known.
The approach of the ad is interesting, because it uses two people to represent the computers. It has these two guys talk about themselves as if they are really the computer. In a way it gives the computer feelings and a personality. In this commercial the PC is dressed in a hospital gown, because he is getting “surgery.” He is really just getting worked on as a computer, but putting him in a state where he is like a human, people think differently about their computer.
This ad is effective for various reasons. The Mac and the PC are very successful computers, but one will always want to be more successful. What bothers me about all the Mac vs PC ads is that they do not always tell all of the facts. The Mac points out many flaws and then blows them out of proportion a bit, but I understand that is the point. One last thing is that I think it is funny that Mac goes through all this trouble to show how great they are, and PC doesn’t have an ad against Mac. The PC knows more people use them and they don’t need the advertising.
