6/21/2006

Experience, discuss, contemplate, reinforce
Filed under: Business, Computing, General, Hatred, Marketing, Technology — nobrainer @ 8:59 am

Experience: Those new mac commercials.

Discuss: Those commercials and macs with my mac-loving girlfriend.

Contemplate: Those new mac commercials. “Mac” seems rat-like and weasely to me. I don’t like rat-like, weasely people. I therefore do not like Mac.

Reinforce: Other writers agree:

My problem with these ads begins with the casting. As the Mac character, Justin Long (who was in the forgettable movie Dodgeball and the forgettabler TV show Ed) is just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we’ve always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast. He’s perfect. Too perfect. It’s like Apple is parodying its own image while also cementing it. If the idea was to reach out to new types of consumers (the kind who aren’t already evangelizing for Macs), they ought to have used a different type of actor.

Seth Stevenson, the writer of the above linked article in Slate, pretty much summarized my feelings on the commercials, going even beyond the unfortunate casting decision.

The commercials are simply too dishonest. “Everything just kind of works with a mac.” Or:

PC - “Yeah I had to restart there. You know how it is.”
Mac - “Actually I don’t.”

Perhaps I should take the first quote more literally, restating it just a bit: “everything works with a mac, only kind of.” I know the first quote is not true. I know the the second one is untrue. I also know that people who complain about the complexity of setting up a desktop PC (all those cords and cables!) generally suck at life.

(My 9th grade Spanish teacher would have people who claimed to be so helpless repeat after him: “I am too stupid to live”: unconventional but effective.)

Because I went to public school, and because my public school was cheap, I grew up using macs a lot. I always heard the same promises about their robustness, speed, superiority, and inability to crash. The IT guys were adamant. The IT guys were also full of shit. That’s a great part of the reason why I still loathe using Macs to this day. That’s a great part of the reason why these commercials fail to reach me.

collapse Bear Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 9:09 am

Amen. Preach It. And all that.

Reply to this comment
 
collapse Wha Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 9:35 am

Those guys were IT people for a school system back before school systems really had a need for IT people. They were not in private business. What’s this tell you abotu them. Teachers teach because they like it (mostly and so I would like to think and I’ll refrain from some derogotory comments engineers are known to make). No one else has a school system job for the same reason.
I like the 9th grade Spanish teacher. I would have taken that class simply for the brutual honesty. As was inferred it was a guy. Girls are incapable of this honesty.
If Mac wanted normal people to use their computer they would have gotten a bunch of frat guys to advertise how easy it was to play Oregon Trail while drinking beer and about how thier porn doesn’t freeze up during the good parts. That right there will sell some home computers.

Reply to this comment
 
collapse Evan Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 11:07 am

“I also know that people who complain about the complexity of setting up a desktop PC (all those cords and cables!) generally suck at life.”

Or are old, set in their ways and lack the mental dexterity required to learn new things.

As for me, my PC also seems to “just work.” I rarely have to install drivers or connect anything beyond a USB cable. And even if/when I do have to mess around with cords, the male and female ends are extremely easy to identify ever since I passed elementary geometery.

I think the appeal of the Mac is just like the infinite “get rich quick” infomercials on in the wee hours. “All you have to do is [insert lame over simplified task] and you’ll be [insert lame probably-going-to-fail goal].” So with Apple “all you have to do is push the power button and you’ll be splicing and editting videos like Spike Jonze in minutes.”

Romance is not real life. And if you think it is you probably do suck at life. Get a mac.

Reply to this comment
 
collapse TrvlnMn Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 12:17 pm

The commercials are simply too dishonest. “Everything just kind of works with a mac.” Or:

PC - “Yeah I had to restart there. You know how it is.”
Mac - “Actually I don’t.”

You’re absolutely right there, “everything just kinda works with a mac” is a bald lie.

I was foolish enough to give mac a try several years ago when I was working in a business where “Mac’s” were more common than PC’s. The Cd-rom drive quit working one month after the warrenty expired, the os became corrupted (something that happens as a matter of time with Mac’s) and I didn’t have any way to re-install the system folder (the reccomended fix when the os becomes corrupted) remember the cd-rom drive crapped out.

There also were more than my share of freezes and forced restarts than I ever had with a PC.

And to top it off because of a design flaw with the laptops the piece of hardware on the laptop where the AC adaptor plugs in- that piece of hardware crapped out so I was no longer able to re-charge the battery or even run the computer, and at that point paying a tech to fix it wasn’t worth the money because after 3 years the mac was totally obsolete.

In all I got exactly 3 years of use from a Mac, whereas I would’ve been able to get 5 years (or more with a few do it yourself upgrades) from a PC. Needless to say, I switched back to PC’s.

Reply to this comment
 
collapse the korean Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 12:49 pm

you do not loathe macs
*enter jedi mind trick here*

you will soon realize that the force is strong with us macintosh rebel fighters and that our victory over the dark, evil empire of the pc will be inevitable and glorious.
*additional jedi mind trick*

it isn’t too late to turn from the dark side, my young nobrainer…
*one last jedi mind trick*

…and may the force be with you.

Reply to this comment
 
collapse ZaMoose Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 4:04 pm

You guys are just jealous because ‘Doze doesn’t come with iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie HD, iDVD and Safari installed by default.

*grin*

Reply to this comment
collapse the korean Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 4:24 pm

yes, you are just jealous.
*jedi mind trick*

deep-down, you know that macs are far better than the evil pcs that serve the dark side.
*jedi mind trick*

ergo, your loathing and dislike simply stems from your struggle to convince others–and yourself–of pcs’ (ahem) “superiority” over apple products and software…
*jedi mind trick*

…but you so know that pcs are lil’ bitches compared to macs!
*jedi mind trick*

oh, and you so know that ipods kick ass, even if you don’t want to admit it.

Reply to this comment
 
 
collapse Agent Orange Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 9:15 pm

yeah or you could yank all those i-programs from a pirate site and get them working perfectly. Heres a solution, screw all those name brand craps and get Linux to a fully compatable, driver enabled, working OS. This way the pirates and hackers won’t target the monopolizing systems and everyone will get along……damn hippies.

Reply to this comment