August 25th, 2009

PC vs. Mac: 'If you're ready to compromise, you call me'

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 10:40 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple Macintosh, PC, Desktops, Hardware, Andrew Nusca

After almost four months of silence, another two editions of Apple’s “Get a Mac” advertising campaign have arrived, this time pounding their chests about the same talking points: a PC may be faster, but a Mac has no viruses and no headaches.

And what do you know, the redheaded girl in the video recalls, without emulating entirely, Lauren from the first entry in Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunters” ad campaign.

Here’s a look:

“Top of the Line”

“Surprise”

These ads ring hollow to me. Instead of focusing on Apple’s strong points — heck, Snow Leopard is around the corner — it’s focusing on bashing PCs.

Why Apple continues to dive down the petty and personal hole is beyond me. Instead of relying on Mac’s strong suits — that it can do what you want to do quicker and more simply — Apple is simply chiding Windows-based PCs for things it’s just as susceptible to.

As anyone who’s been around a TV during an election, political ads run the same way: far more negative ads are run than positive ones, and even though people don’t like them, the message rings stronger.

The problem, it seems, is that there’s no “post-election” time to forget all that’s been said in the name of competition.

Still, Apple remains the underdog, despite a more discussed ad campaign, and it’s in the company’s interest to snipe at the market leader. So perhaps the campaign is effective after all.

But ads like this are not making anyone with an Apple logo on the back of their laptop feel any better about their purchase. Easier to use, perhaps; a symbol of holier-than-thou posturing, soon to become.