Worst Microsoft Video Promo Ever, Take 2. Just Cover Up The Mac With Stickers.(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
Worst Microsoft Video Promo Ever, Take 2. Just Cover Up The Mac With Stickers.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/15/worst-microsoft-video-promo-ever-take-2-just-cover-up-the-mac-with-stickers/
19 comments
You mean you didn't want a glow-in-the-dark towel anyway?
I might buy some glow-in-the-dark knitting thread (http://www.embroiderthis.com/glindath.html) and make me one...
I don't see much originality coming from Apple either. Not sure what he means by culture.
BTW, there's lots of cool research coming out of Microsoft Research, but little of it seems to make it into their products.
BTW, there's lots of cool research coming out of Microsoft Research, but little of it seems to make it into their products.
Why can't they just be running Windows on Bootcamp. It's no different from running in a DELL, HP or Acer box is it?
Macbooks are the most aesthetically pleasing laptops out there so I can imagine directors wanting it in an advert rather then a plastic piece of crap.
Macbooks are the most aesthetically pleasing laptops out there so I can imagine directors wanting it in an advert rather then a plastic piece of crap.
The problem is that they chose to cover up the Apple logo. I mean, sure, using an aethetically pleasing 3rd party product in an ad is no problem, but you shouldn't then try to disguise the fact. If the Apple logo really does pose a problem, don't use a Mac in the ad.
Identifiable brands are ususally obfuscated unless the brand owner pays to advertise their brand (at least in the USA). Look at sitcoms on TV. The husband drinks beer out of a can that is red & white like a Budweiser can, but it clearly isn't a Budweiser can. Product placement is usually paid for, like Taco Bell did in the movie "Demolition Man".
Or the problem is that they chose to do it in such a ham-handed way. I've seen MacBook Pros used in advertising before, and I think the usual method is to just paint over the logo, covering it with the same sort of metallic texture the rest of the laptop has, or in print ads, to Photoshop it out.
Covering it up with a big sticker in the middle just looks cheesy, much like the rest of the ad.
Covering it up with a big sticker in the middle just looks cheesy, much like the rest of the ad.
I don't think it's unreasonable for them to want to use the pleasing design of an apple product without actually advertising a competitor.
You know I really dont like M$, there is plenty to bash them about but this just seems so unimportant.
You know I really dont like M$, there is plenty to bash them about but this just seems so unimportant.
Exactly what I was thinking. This entire article is unfounded MS-bashing.
> Or maybe they knew that would be the only way anybody would bother to watch the video.
That just makes no sense. This article is of poor quality.
> Or maybe they knew that would be the only way anybody would bother to watch the video.
That just makes no sense. This article is of poor quality.
This the modern equivalent of the Wa-Wa-Wa-Windows promo:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4915875929930836239&#...
The Windows 386 is by far the best promo I've ever seen. It easily takes the cake for being the most awesome.
This phenomenon is depressingly typical. Some of the cable channels I watch have a late night ad for virus blocking software. Despite the screenshots and fine print mentioning that the product is PC only, the majority of the computers shown in the ad are MacBooks and iMacs. (This ad is old enough that the machines shown weren't necessarily running Intel chips.)
This thing is so silly that they must be gaming for the viral crowd.
Do you guys not realize that this is a joke? Because I'm fairly sure that it is done firmly with tongue in cheek -- and it's pretty damn funny, too.
I don't quite get the piling-on of this video.
Singing by average folks is always a bit corny and campy. Homespun/improvised lyrics and 'casiotone'-like accompaniment makes it even more so.
But it's also social, goofy fun -- as the enduring popularity of karaoke and American Idol demonstrate -- and an important musical & cultural activity (especially for children).
The video fits the earnest aesthetic of amateur/folk/ad-hoc singing, and to mock it for that is to miss the point.
I suspect the Songsmith team is happy even for the ridicule -- as a viral vehicle for promoting awareness of what their work does, the video is among the 'best' rather than 'worst' of that genre. (It's much better than the nonsensical Gates-Seinfeld videos.)
Finally, no discussion of Songsmith would be complete without:
http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith
Singing by average folks is always a bit corny and campy. Homespun/improvised lyrics and 'casiotone'-like accompaniment makes it even more so.
But it's also social, goofy fun -- as the enduring popularity of karaoke and American Idol demonstrate -- and an important musical & cultural activity (especially for children).
The video fits the earnest aesthetic of amateur/folk/ad-hoc singing, and to mock it for that is to miss the point.
I suspect the Songsmith team is happy even for the ridicule -- as a viral vehicle for promoting awareness of what their work does, the video is among the 'best' rather than 'worst' of that genre. (It's much better than the nonsensical Gates-Seinfeld videos.)
Finally, no discussion of Songsmith would be complete without:
http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith
That link made me laugh like a maniac, I'm sure my neighbors think I'm insane now. Thank you so much for the link.
I don't think I agree with you about the ad, but I'm far too happy to argue about it now. It just seems pointless... maybe DLR Songsmith is the cure for "Someone is wrong on the internet" disease?
I don't think I agree with you about the ad, but I'm far too happy to argue about it now. It just seems pointless... maybe DLR Songsmith is the cure for "Someone is wrong on the internet" disease?
I suppose I should have split up the two parts of my comment. Now I can't tell if people are endorsing my brilliant and insightful contrarian analysis, or just the funny link.
I can't listen to that track at work, but is it a kind of rebuttal/parody similar to this?
http://www.thefump.com/fump.php?id=129
http://www.thefump.com/fump.php?id=129
Unfortunately, no one can be told what Runnin-With-The-Songsmith is. You have to hear it for yourself.
[deleted]
You're not fooling anyone, mate!! This stuff is crap!
I'd be surprised if this wasn't intentional - as the saying goes, theres no such thing as bad publicity.
The Seinfeld-Gates ads got how much free press?
I'd be willing to lay money on this being a sign of things to come with MS - with so many people poking fun at their products, they're actively trying to divert the attention to other things.
Seems more like a play straight out of the bush-cheney administration's playbook :P
The Seinfeld-Gates ads got how much free press?
I'd be willing to lay money on this being a sign of things to come with MS - with so many people poking fun at their products, they're actively trying to divert the attention to other things.
Seems more like a play straight out of the bush-cheney administration's playbook :P
I've seen Microsoft representatives speaking at conferences running Vista under bootcamp on a macbook pro, so it's no big deal.
As for the advert, it's been a great viral hit, likely intentionally bad. The software is pretty awesome.
Check out the range of "Classic songs by Songsmith" videos appearing on youtube too http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ypycpKQxXR0
As for the advert, it's been a great viral hit, likely intentionally bad. The software is pretty awesome.
Check out the range of "Classic songs by Songsmith" videos appearing on youtube too http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ypycpKQxXR0
This is a bit of a meta comment, but that TechCrunch has only just posted this demonstrates how awesome Twitter is for being on top of memes, news, and what not. I saw the Steve Jobs stand down news on Twitter first, and this Songsmith thing went around a few of my Twitter networks a few days ago already.
[deleted]
I wouldn't pick on MS for having a Mac in the ad. They just probably hired a firm to make their ad (have you noticed how most ads use Macs with stickers over the apple logo whenever they need to show a notebook?).
I would however criticize them for the absolute lameness of the ad.
I would however criticize them for the absolute lameness of the ad.
I wouldn't pick on MS for having a Mac in the ad.
Yeah, I find this sort of thing funny. Internet people get all worked up into a lather when they discover that, say, some machine somewhere in Microsoft's network is running Apache/Unix or OSX (OMG!). In the real world, no one cares -- they have real problems to solve, and at the end of the day, what brand of computer you're using is not a big deal.
Yeah, I find this sort of thing funny. Internet people get all worked up into a lather when they discover that, say, some machine somewhere in Microsoft's network is running Apache/Unix or OSX (OMG!). In the real world, no one cares -- they have real problems to solve, and at the end of the day, what brand of computer you're using is not a big deal.
My thoughts exactly. Current Macs are Intel CPUs that can natively run all major popular operating systems, so what is this guy getting worked up about? Doesn't he know that you can run Windows on a Mac in a VM or natively, as the primary O/S?
1) Sell your Microsoft shares
2) I actually think the product is a decent one but the advert was unwatchable
3) I'm pretty sure they user Autotune to give that girl's voice the correct pitch
2) I actually think the product is a decent one but the advert was unwatchable
3) I'm pretty sure they user Autotune to give that girl's voice the correct pitch
When Wired digs for their year-end filler stories in 2019, this video/commercial will make the list of "10 Worst Ads of 2009 (Before the Age of Instant Viral Peer to Peer iPhone10g Marketing)"
Am I missing something? All I see is an ad for a software product. I wouldn't buy it, but I could imagine my niece digging it.
It's a lame ad, but so are most ads.
shrug
It's a lame ad, but so are most ads.
shrug
Nothing more fun than when people who aren't even remotely in the target audience critique the quality of ads.
Though really, they couldn't get a Dell?
Though really, they couldn't get a Dell?
I used to be a pretty good musician, but after watching that I don't think I'll be able to play anymore. Anybody want my guitars and equipment?
Forget about the laptop, whose idea was it to cast the most annoying kid in the universe?
The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products.
The video aside, the music that is presumably made by this product sounds exactly like something made on a Yamaha DX7, which went out of production in 1986! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_DX7)
It's awful, and it made me want a glow-in-the-dark towel more than it made me want songsmith.