Initially I found those Get a Mac commercials charming, but after a while I started to wonder why Apple chose to make the intellectual and funny guy represent the PC and the annoying dork represent the Mac. What twisted logic was used there? Anyway, I'm a fan of John Hodgman's work on The Daily Show, while I find Justin Long's snide arrogance to be perfect for sitcoms like Ed and movies like Dodgeball, but counter-productive for a pro-Mac marketing campaign. So it's with great pleasure that I read Engadget's interview with Hodgman and learned (as I had suspected but never truly cared enough to find out) that he's a Mac user in real life and has been for 20+ years, excepting "...a brief period in the wilderness between 1997 and 2003," which he'd rather not speak of. You can see more of the interview over at Engadget... don't worry, it's a short read.John Hodgman not a PC, just plays one on TV
Initially I found those Get a Mac commercials charming, but after a while I started to wonder why Apple chose to make the intellectual and funny guy represent the PC and the annoying dork represent the Mac. What twisted logic was used there? Anyway, I'm a fan of John Hodgman's work on The Daily Show, while I find Justin Long's snide arrogance to be perfect for sitcoms like Ed and movies like Dodgeball, but counter-productive for a pro-Mac marketing campaign. So it's with great pleasure that I read Engadget's interview with Hodgman and learned (as I had suspected but never truly cared enough to find out) that he's a Mac user in real life and has been for 20+ years, excepting "...a brief period in the wilderness between 1997 and 2003," which he'd rather not speak of. You can see more of the interview over at Engadget... don't worry, it's a short read.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-06-2006 @ 1:09PM
Joel Pan said...
Not to mention that Hodgman will be playing The Father and The Other Father in the upcoming movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. I have this on pretty good authority, since I heard it straight from Neil himself.
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10-06-2006 @ 1:13PM
john said...
Name-dropping FTW
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10-06-2006 @ 1:23PM
Paul said...
I met Justin Long in a bar in baltimore last week, he was cool, he is filming "Live Free, Die Hard". Didnt talk to him about macs...
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10-06-2006 @ 3:34PM
Brian Ashe said...
PC: Hi, I'm a PC...
Mac: ...and I'm a Mac. What are you doing?
PC: Oh, I'm just playing some games.
Mac: Hey, can I try some?
PC: No.
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10-06-2006 @ 4:38PM
Tony said...
Brian Ashe...
Of course Mac can try some: http://www.gamedb.com/ssps
I'll take a Mac + XBox 360 (or PS3) anyday over your Windows box.
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10-06-2006 @ 7:11PM
JBMac said...
Saying that you wonder why Apple used the "Intellectual funny guy" to represent the PC, and the "Annoying dork" to represent the Mac, basically shows that you missed the point of the commercials.
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10-06-2006 @ 8:26PM
Hoover said...
I would have to agree with JBMac. While Hodgman is intellectual and funny in real life, his PC character is awkward, incapable, and uninformed. I'm not seeing how it could be interpreted otherwise.
I've never understood why TUAW (and many Mac users) have reacted negatively to the advertisements. They're amusing, mostly accurate, and they articulate the relaxed satisfaction with which the Mac faithful approach computing.
And since every Apple Store I've been into lately is packed and bustling, it would seem they've been at least somewhat effective.
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10-06-2006 @ 10:52PM
trever said...
Maybe the people who don't like the commercials and are complaining that the mac character is snide/arrogant just don't have a sense of humour. Nobody north of the 49th here seems to think that these are bad commercials or that the mac character is high and mighty etc etc.
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10-07-2006 @ 1:21AM
Kemp Mullaney said...
This argument has bothered me for some time now. I have been in marketing/advertising for the past eight years and IMHO I think that Mac users are responding based on some incorrect assumptions.
Advertising does several things, but what we are looking at here plays between two particular roles: Cognitive Dissidence and Customer Acquisition.
Cognitive Dissidence occurs when a consumer buys a product and even after making the purchase questions themselves whether or not they made the right choice. There are ad campaigns out there specifically designed to reassure consumers that they made the right choice. (Think Chevy truck ads that show the truck powering through mud or climbing rocks.)
Customer Acquisition ads are designed to do just what the name implies: acquire customers.
These ads fall into the latter category. Apple is not trying to communicate to their existing customers with these ads – the features they are promoting are known by most Mac users as it is. They are going after new customers.
It is arguable that any marketing effort by Apple is going to affect both new and current customers, but you have to ask yourself as a satisfied customer, does this ad make you dissatisfied? Apple is not trying to talk to you. Apple is after new customers and they decided on this approach.
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10-08-2006 @ 1:39PM
CCK said...
I seriously can't believe that people miss the point of the two characters.
The "PC" guy is OBVIOUSLY Bill Gates, while the "Mac" guy is Steve Jobs as he sees himself (still young).
I really didn't think they could have made it more obvious.
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