So let me get to the point – Google has an ad for their new Maps app. Let’s take a peak:
Google Maps takes you to Detroit?! That’s what they want to represent?
The Detroit I see in the ad is one I’d like to visit, but three break-ins in three months got me to move out of there. And now the city is as bankrupt as its government officials were when it comes to morals and serving the people.
Nice try at being edgy, Google. If you love downtown so much, why don’t you move your offices from Ann Arbor to the Motor City?
You can’t, eh? Oh. It’s because you’re using Apple Maps.
When these commercials first came out, I loved them. I’ve worked in IT for almost ten years, and the lowest moment for me was the release of Windows Vista.
Which is why the Mac Vs. PC commercials always made me smile – they had a point. In reality, if I had to deal with issues involving Vista any more than I did, I would have switched to Apple’s operating system (and more expensive equipment) in a heartbeat.
But now, with the release of Windows 7, which is getting reviewed way higher than its predecessor, are these commercials going to be obsolete:
Will they be like The Daily Show with John Stewart in a post-Bush era? (Still funny, but not as biting…) Or will Windows 7 fail to impress in the long run, thus providing continual fodder for the mocking ads?
I think the jump ship mentality that Vista wrought has come to an end, and I have had limited interaction with 7 so far. I have another friend that works at a different level of IT than I do, and he claims to love it (out of 700 pc’s he’s worked on at clients, less than 2% used Vista… or at least thereabout).
So is the campaign still ripe with humor? Or has something that was The Shit become Just Shitty? I’m inclined to think Apple’s advertising team needs to go back to the drawing board or whatever high-end technology they have, despite how funny I think John Hodgman is, or how funny Justin Long arguably may be.
One question remains though. How did they count to Windows 7?
By my count:
Windows 3.1
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows Me
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
But Windows 3.1 was Version Three-Point-One. And what about this Windows 2 that’s mentioned in the commercial above? That’s either Just Shitty writing, or it’s flat-out Just Shitty.
Let’s face facts… kids are dumb. I don’t mean the concept of them (entirely), but they’re suckers. Hell, we were just as gullible in our youth.
But back in the day, marketing firms fostered (word choice!) our imagination when they sold to us, and look at the consumers we’ve become today.
Here’s a commercial for an 80’s toy probably no one remembers called Army Ants. The promo was eventually pulled from the airwaves due to the fact the toys moved by themselves (and since kids are dumb they might think they’re alive… oh no!) Remember, this took place before warnings were placed on coffee to remind people that coffee is fucking hot, so the idea of putting a notice on the bottom of the screen never crossed anyone’s mind.
Now here’s a commercial for the toyline based on the new G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra movie:
Where’s the fun in that commercial? I smell no sense of adventure. I envision no afternoon of making those vehicle crash into each other. It’s all tell, and no show! Sure, there’s hints of scenes from the movie, but where’s the poking other bugs in the squishy and squashy guts, whether I have to make them do it or they do it to themselves (since they’re alive, you see).
To be fair, they are completelysort of different toylines, so I’ll draw upon an old G.I. Joe toy commercial for apples to Apple Paltrow Martin‘s sake:
Fucking Refrigerator Perry?! Seriously, a Chicago Bear is on G.I. Joe, and he kicks major Cobra ass?! And I can call him and get in on the action with only four certificates (and a 50 cent phone call plus $1 handling charge)?!
See the difference?
SIDENOTE: I recently won a chance for a free haircut at a salon that panders to men and, to be honest, that I don’t quite frankly trust, but I went anyway. (It was free…) Upon leaving and realizing it wasn’t a complete hack job, I tipped the stylist $2 and $1 in quarters. It was all I had. She made a face, and I left. Haircuts are normally $16, so I don’t know if she expected $5 or more on a FREE haircut, but it did make me wonder… what can you buy for $3 nowadays? Cigarettes? No. A beer at the bar? No. Two 20 oz. bottle of Mtn. Dew? Sometimes. Seeing that I could have got Refrigerator Perry for $1.50 really got me thinking…
This got me wondering… how could they adjust this image to make it better? Turn that frown upside down and make it a fountain! (Image after the jump.) Read More
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