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You are watching a clever commercial. Cancel or allow?

Yes, I am a hardcore Mac enthusiast, but to be honest, I find the Mac vs. PC ads hit or miss. Part of it is that Justin Long (Mac) is a little too smug, and I think that John Hodgman (PC) is high-larious. But the new Vista commercial makes me laugh. It's a simple concept, and in a few lines, they manage to boil down a difference between the two operating systems in a really clever way. I'm certain that it's more complicated than that, but I almost don't care. Nothing in the commercial is wasted, from the visual minimalism to the final, mournful "Allow..."

Anyhow, I spend (it seems) an entry a month bemoaning the idiocy that passes for marketing these days, so it seems only fair to point out the good on the rare occasions that I come across it.

Comments

I think Mac's smugness is perfect: a self-deprecating nod to the smug Mac users who write "Windoze," etc. But his shirt should be tucked in, or at least pressed. The Mac OS isn't visually sloppy.

I think its funny that the "Mac" actor has been in a ton of other acting gigs and the only thing that fans come up and ask/bug him about are these ads.

Wonder if him being in the new Die Hard movie will help him shake this "Gilligan" syndrome.

it's it's it's

Crikey...

You know, it's odd that the PC character is more memorable than the Mac character--I know John Hodgman, but I wouldn't rceognize Justin Long in a million years.

Still, this particular Mac vs. PC ad works well. Next time I get a computer, I'm buying a Mac. I promise.

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