Apple’s Get a Mac commercials are personal
Apple’s Get a Mac commercials have been running in the U.S. for about a year and a half now.
Each commercial promotes a clear Mac advantage and tells viewers that Macs are…
compatible — Network, Self Pity, Touché
cool — Sabotage
creative — Angel/Devil, Better Results, Better, Flashback, iLife
easy — Now What, Out of the Box, Stuffed, Surgery
for home — Meant for Work, Work vs. Home
lovable — Gift Exchange, Goodwill, Santa Claus
popular — Boxer, Sales Pitch, WSJ
powerful — Misprint
robust — Tech Support, Computer Cart, Restarting, Trust Mac, Viruses
well-made — Accident
Some of the commercials also mock Vista, but most focus on the Mac to tell you that Macs are better than PCs.
At least, that’s what they seem to say.
But by showing two people onscreen rather than two computers, the message is made personal. Beyond anthropomorphising the computer hardware, showing the Mac and PC as people shifts the focus to the users and plays to one of Apple’s acknowledged strengths: focus on the user. Like Apple’s new video guided tours used to promote iPhone and iPod touch, and like Apple’s product names themselves, these Get a Mac commercials are easy to use from the user’s perspective: have a quick laugh with two familiar faces, and learn about a Mac advantage.
Long ago, Apple popularized the graphical interface over the command-line by showing users their available choices rather than forcing the users to choose arcane commands. These commercials provide a similar and simple choice to (young?) style-minded users: do you want to be like Mac, or PC? Not “which do you want to use?”, but which do you want to be like? A video menu of sorts: choose one of these people.
And while you watch the commercials, you subconsciously choose Mac.
Actually the mac guy is more like that irritating “most popular” person you knew - you wished you could do what they did, but thought they were too smarmy by half. I think the point of the ads is that PC is like us, nice guy, a bit timid, weighed down by life - maybe - just maybe - if you get a mac you can have what the twit has while remaining yourself.
Apple’s Get a Mac commercials weren’t mean to convince hardcore PC users to switch to the Mac. It’s as difficult to get hardcore PC users to switch to Mac as it is the other way around.
Apple’s target audience are people who are on the fence. The moderates who have been teasing with the idea of switching to a Mac or people who simply don’t know much about computers in general.
While most people may simply chuckle at these commercials as they are meant to entertain us, hardcore PC users may actually taken offense. They are, after all, just commercials and if you take them seriously without processing the information yourself, you have different issues.
I’ve been a die-hard Mac user since 1994 and I cant stand those ads.
I strongly believe that they are insulting, childish and mostly wrong.
Sure, I’ve got a sense of humour… but others might not.
Its a wrong presentation of the whole Mac/Pc conflict…
and one that shows immaturity from Apple… a shame.
Plus the things that so completely wrong is the aged represented by the Mac and PC. Mac user are in general way older (average early 50s) while PC users are younger (late 20s).
Anyway, I never showed these ads to all my friend I switched to the Mac from PC. Instead I’ve showed them the advantages of the switch in a technical but easily understood way.
There has been a backlash to these commercials, especially in England.
They are of the mud-slinging variety - even if the mac guy does play the innocent, good-natured and thoughtful role (”I didn’t say that, the Wall Street Journal said that”), we all know who paid for the ad.
The “personal experience” ads, like the switchers and iphone campaigns are much more mac-like then the velvet-wrapped baseball bat approach.
I think the take-away is that things are *always* happening to PC, and Mac is relatively calm.
In real life, sure, I have my moments where murphy’s law will pop it’s head over my cube wall, but most of the time, I don’t lose work time to the types of things that some PC users do.
If die-hard PC users take offense it’s probably because there’s an element of truth to the comparisons the commercials make. Being the religious topic that it is, they may associate the perceived negative connotations as judgements of their life choices.
Whatever, I have work to do.
My Mac is up and running, as usual, so I’m going to go do my work now.
I gotta say, these ads are getting kinda old! They’re hardly funny anymore, but still, they are much better than the “It’s as simple as that!” iPhone commercials. Apple has had the Simple ads for, what, more than 15 years? They are just stupid.
Apple has got to get some other commercial theme, for example: the silhouette ads are just lame now.