Slashdot Log In
Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Fri Sep 05, 2008 03:07 PM
from the a-whole-lotta-meh dept.
from the a-whole-lotta-meh dept.
CWmike writes "Microsoft's $300-million ad campaign for Windows starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld launched Thursday with a long TV commercial almost entirely devoid of any talk of Windows, Microsoft or anything, really. With co-star Bill Gates, the scene is set in a shopping mall. Seinfeld, who did most of the talking, helps Gates buy a pair of shoes called the Conquistador. The commercial ends with Seinfeld asking Gates if Microsoft will "come out with something that makes our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we're working." Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative. The commercial ends (see video inside the story) with the Windows logo and the phrase 'Delicious.' Preston Gralla writes, 'I just saw Microsoft's much ballyhooed Jerry Seinfeld ad, and can say without equivocation it's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history. If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple."
Related Stories
[+]
Entertainment: Microsoft Causes Internal Family Strife 543 comments
techmuse writes "Fresh from its ad featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld eating churros and discussing shoes, Microsoft has introduced a new advertisement in which the aging former CEO and comedian take up residence with a family, causing infighting and malicious plots by the family members. Although the ad does not mention Microsoft's operating system directly, it does mirror the real world experience of the company's products — appearing where not wanted, hard to remove, causing administration headaches, and finally being forced out in hopes of getting one's living space back."
[+]
Entertainment: Microsoft Uses "I'm a PC" Character In New Ads 837 comments
arcticstoat writes to tell us that in the wake of their largely unsuccessful Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign Microsoft is setting their sights directly on recent Apple ads by featuring the "I'm a PC" character in their new advertising campaign. "He then follows this with another phrase, such as 'and I've been made into a stereotype' before the advert shifts to a range of people performing a diverse assortment of jobs, all of which also say they're a PC. Among those featured are astronaut Bernard Harris, as well as religious author Deepak Chopra and 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria. The ad also features a wide range of anonymous people, including a shark diver, a teacher and a guy with a beard."
[+]
News: Ballmer Admits Google Apps Are Biting Into MS Office 293 comments
twitter points out coverage of a discussion between Steve Ballmer and two Gartner analysts in which the Microsoft CEO admits that Google Apps is enjoying an advantage over Office by users who want to share their documents. He points to Office Live as their response to Google, and adds, "Google has the lead, but, if we're good at advertising, we'll compete with them in the consumer business." Whether or not they're good at advertising is still in question, if their recent attempts are any indication. Ballmer also made statements indicating some sort of arrangement with Yahoo! could still be in the works, but Microsoft was quick to step on that idea. Regarding Windows Vista, he said Microsoft was prepared for people to skip it altogether, and that Microsoft would be "ready" when it was time to deploy Windows 7.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'
Are you crazy? I found that ad effective & informative.
... starring a Microsoft shill & a racist.
I can't wait to get down to my local shoe store to try out a pair of "The Conquistador" although everyone knows they 'run tight.' I can't wait to finally have shoes I can wear in my shower!
Well, there goes my ability to watch any reruns of Seinfeld
I caught this ad on TV with my non-technical retail employed roommate. And, acknowledging my predisposition to the big evil, I turned and atonally inquired what he thought of the commercial. "What?" he replied, "I don't think when I watch commercials, I just watch them." My god, it's worse than I thought, normal people just might digest this!
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
I think it is actually an ad for churros. I anticipate huge churro sales spike following this campaign.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
dammit now im hungry. thanks ass.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it is actually an ad for churros. I anticipate huge churro sales spike following this campaign.
Actually, I think it's an ad for ads.
The ESB and T3 ended exactly as this commercial ended: a set up for the next one. This is going to be a chain of commercials and obviously the first one is out of context and sucks.
Just wait for commercial 3.11^w 95^w 98^w 2000^w xp^w vista^w 7: it won't suck. It will be delicious.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
Clippy: "It looks like you are about to eat a churro. Can I help you with that?"
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Insightful)
That may be one of the oddest and most horrifying things I've ever seen. Gates shaking his ass.
YOU ARE NOT BEYONCE!
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Insightful)
so are shoes analogy to Windows... it doesn't quite fit but if you bend it up long enough you can squeeze your feet into it?
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Insightful)
starring a Microsoft shill & a racist.
First, he wasn't an MS schill back then, in the later years he was an American Express schill. Second, so he's doing pitches for MS, so what? It's not like he's getting up there staring into the camera and saying, "Windows Vista is the greatest thing since penicillin." He's a comedian and he's being paid to do some ads. He's not a business ethicist or technologist, he probably knows as much on MS's business practices or technical stances as your average person, which is next to none.
Third, RACIST? What the hell? Can you PLEASE explain that, because I REALLY don't get that one. Honestly, I haven't a clue where you got that and really want to know.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Insightful)
You only need look as far as what passes for entertainment on television in the USA to figure out that you should be considered special if you have an 8th grade education!
Have you ever watched TV in other countries? If it's not reruns of old stuff from the US, It's knock-offs like [insert country here] Idol. Entertainment is bad on a global scale.
The bulk of stuff you will find in basic programming is going to suck everywhere for a long time to come, because, well, it has to cater to the 50% of us who are under average.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Coke - It's The Real Thing (Score:5, Funny)
I will have you know that TV programming in Japan is quite different than anything you will find in the US, since I think that they give all the people who come up with the shows drugs for inspiration.
I was going to say they do that with US TV too. Except in that case the drug is cocaine and the only thing it inspires is crap TV as a means to get more money to get more cocaine...
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wasn't American Idol a knockoff of a British show?
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Informative)
They copy back and forth, each worse than the last. But it doesn't matter, because the "original" TV shows were knock-offs of radio shows which were knock-offs of vaudeville acts.
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
> If it's not reruns of old stuff from the US, It's knock-offs...
I know, it's unbelievable how many American shows were stolen by the Brits! The Office, Coupling, The Weakest Link (they even stole the host), Whose Line is it Anyway?, and on and on.
Like you mentioned, they even stole American Idol and called it Pop Idol! In fact, they took a bunch of American shows and just changed the names so we wouldn't know. Instead of Three's Company, they called it Man About the House. And when they made a spin-off of Three's Company (Three's a Crowd), they copied that too (Robin's Nest).
Is nothing they do original?
Parent
Re:What Are You Talking About? (Score:5, Funny)
At the moment, parent is modded +1, Informative.
I'm hereby modding the moderator -1, Moron, and -2, No Detectable Sense of Humor.
Parent
I thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
... that it was kind of hilarious in a post-modern "we're Microsoft, what the fuck are we gonna do?" sort of way.
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Funny)
... that it was kind of hilarious in a post-modern "we're Microsoft, what the fuck are we gonna do?" sort of way.
You mean, "Where do we want to go today?" sort of way?
Sounds like Microsoft with Alzheimer's.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, quite fitting for Vista...
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
The add made little sense. It didn't mention computers at all until the last 10 seconds.
It was kinda funny, but not even typical Seinfeld humor.
I think Microsoft should get a refund from the ad agency.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Interesting)
But the end... the end... that setup, the punch line/butt wiggle and Jerry's response? Uhhh, just non funny, dumb and baffling. There are many things about Bill Gates that are not funny. The body he inhabits and all parts contained within qualify under that designation.
Just. Bad.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought it was quite clever actually.
You have to understand what they're going for...When was the last time you saw a Mac commercial that was really about something technical? They just don't do that, they sell this fun "image", this personified "I'm your buddy" thing which has little or nothing to do with your computer.
That's what MS is trying to counter. They're trying to humanize their image, build up some emotional investment in their brand.
I saw it cold actually, on TV, but I'd heard about it and I was geared up to scream "BULLSHIT!!!!" when the stupid claims started, which kinda threw me when they never did, I must admit.
Despite that knee jerk, and despite all my MS related baggage, I was semi-amused at various points. It was clever. Surreal, yes, but amusing.
And they're getting mad play, jesus, everyone looking at the ad online. I think it may play somewhat for them in the long run, but it's too early to tell.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Funny)
People... at a bar... watching a football game... applauded a commercial? About software?
So, what part of the Microsoft campus is this bar located at?
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Funny)
The add made little sense.
Agreed. I think it will divide the audience at best, and in the worst case will subtract from the value of their product.
Parent
And my impression was... I thought that... (Score:5, Funny)
I thought that Seinfeld was acting like he just smoked a whole bag full of weed and Gates was just annoyed with him.
Parent
Re:And my impression was... I thought that... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Interesting)
I should specify that I was watching it with some buddies of mine and had (up until this point) been quite raucous throughout the football game. But this commercial confused the hell out of us.
"Is it for charity?"
"Is it for shoes?"
"Is it for some sort of policy initiative?"
Nope. Windows. ...delicious.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw it as, "We took the money we got from every computer you ever bought, and used it to make this crappy commercial!"
Bill Gates can wiggle his flabby ass all he wants -- I will never forgive them for Internet Explorer.
Parent
Re:I thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
While this ad didn't make me want to go out and buy a Windows computer, neither did it make me actively want to avoid having anything to do with the company responsible for it, as the "I'm a Mac" ads did. From that point of view, I'd call this a success.
Parent
Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Interesting)
Clearly the OP does not really understand what advertising is usually about. Most mass market advertising does not try to provide information, it is providing associations. It presents something enjoyable (here it is assumed that Seinfeld+Gates==Enjoyable) and then presents the branding that they want to be associated with that enjoyable feeling. The crazy part is that this works, and in a weird way can be suggested as actually improving the product. Since the next time the subject of the advertising uses/sees the product, they will subconsiously access that association with enjoyment ... therefore the product is more enjoyable as a result of the advertising.
I am not saying that this is a good thing, but it is how things work in the real world.
Now you can argue either way as to whether Seinfeld+Gates=Delicious ... I didn't actually watch the comercial myself ... but they might be reaching as far a transitive association all the way back to the Seinfeld show, which almost everyone agrees was enjoyable. In any case I don't think there was ever any intent to have actual informative content in the comercial ... they are just "building the brand".
See Seth Godin's book "All Marketers Are Liars"
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/ [typepad.com]
or a quick review of it here:
http://www.businesspundit.com/lying-marketing-and-perception/ [businesspundit.com]
Re:Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Insightful)
Having seen the ad, and thinking of others that have been defended in this way, I've come to suspect that this in fact doesn't work at all, and that what you're repeating actually originated as marketing for marketing. "Don't worry. It's supposed to be horrible!"
I mean, it ended with Bill Gates coyly wiggling his ass for chrissake!
Parent
Re:Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Insightful)
Seinfeld was a HORRIBLE show!
Sorry but I have to disagree. Seinfeld was brilliant: it was like a modern theatre of the absurd. It didn't play to people's desire for a warm fuzzy feeling, it acted on the cold reality of what its creators portray as futile, cyclical, absurd modern life. And it does it in a way that makes people laugh.
Its comedy is so incredibly clever. I still find it hard to not have my mind blown when I watch it.
Parent
Re:Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Informative)
You figured out that it was a Microsoft ad, didn't you? Since this is Slashdot I will spell it out. They are not selling a specific product. They are attempting to create positive feelings about Microsoft in general. They are also trying to get people to discuss the ad. In that they clearly succeeded.
Parent
Re:Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Funny)
Back in the last century some ad people at a business school did an experiment that indicated that thirty seconds of the name of the product being repeated in a loud, obnoxious voice was just as effective as an entertaining ad.
I've got something to apply directly to your forehead for bringing back that memory.
Parent
Re:Its Marketing ... no information required (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Mug shot (Score:5, Funny)
"Gates wiggles his rear." (Score:5, Funny)
Congratulations (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot ... you win first prize. You just fell for, and greatly aided, Microsoft's viral marketing campaign.
Shamelessly crossposed from my journal (Score:5, Funny)
Bill Gates (for it is he): Now, I've been thinking about our advertising, how we get the message out that Vista is the best operating system ever written, and I was watching TV last night.
Steve Ballmer: Oh, excellent my master! Excellent!
Steve chortles uncontrollably
Bill Gates: Shut up number 2. Now, I noticed two things. First of all, there is a hilarious comedian on the television called Jerry Seinfeld.
Various flunkies nod.
Number 8: Oh yes, he's very funny
Number 9: I agree my master. We were all talking about his hilarious show around our water cooler earlier today.
Number 5: Indeed. In my department, I couldn't get to the water cooler because of the number of people talking about his show. It is the funniest show on television. You are so right number one, you are...
Bill Gates sighs
Gates: Silence! Now, the other thing I noticed was a theme to many of the advertisements. Let me show you.
The table turns around, with the chairs parting to form a straight line parallel to and facing a giant unfolding screen. The lights dim, and an image appears on screen.
McCain: I'm John McCain, and I approve this message. Barack Obama says he's for the common man. But he's actually just a typical liberal elitist.
Obama: Poor people suck. I'm a big dofus. Look at me with my big car and fancy house.
McCain: Do you really want this person becoming President, or would you rather that a real American be in the White House?
The screen changes to show a new ad. This time the word "Hope" appears in big letters on the screen.
Obama: I know what it's like to be at the bottom. I grew up in a family so poor we used to have to live in a paper bag. Every morning, we used to have to get up before we went to bed, lick road clean, and every night our parents would beat us, bury us, and dance on our graves. But my opponent John McCain was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, listen to his real world experience:
McCain: Look at me, I'm an old person who doesn't even know how to use an Interweb. I have sixteen houses because I keep forgetting where they all are and so have to keep buying new ones to live in.
Obama: Do you really think that guy can relate to us? Do you really want him to become President? Vote for me, change you can believe in. I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.
The lights come back on and the table and chairs go back into position.
Gates: You see, I'm noticing a common theme. What the common people want is to know their leaders aren't elitist, whatever that means.
Number 17: Er, Mr Gates. I don't want to talk out of turn, but those are election ads, they're not trying to sell computer operating systems.
There is a deathly hush. Gates motions to Balmer:
Gates: Number 2...
Balmer picks up a chair. Number 17 gets up and starts to back away.
Number 17: Please! I meant no disrespect! I was just trying to help! No! Please!
Balmer coldly follows 17 and carefully aims the chair. Finally, with a single thrust of the arms, the chair is thrown. All four legblades hit 17 together. He staggers backwards, bleeding profusely, and falls off of the platform into the shark tank, screaming as he goes.
Gates: As I was saying. The people want to know that their leaders are not elitists, that we can relate to the comm
Re:Shamelessly crossposed from my journal (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Let me be one of the first to say (Score:5, Funny)
I want my damn minute back!
I get it! (Score:5, Funny)
It's an "Ad about Nothing"!
Re:I get it! (Score:5, Funny)
It's deeper than that. The original show was about characters with no redeeming value and that didn't care about anyone but themselves. That appears to be tailor-made for a Vista ad.
Brett
Parent
It already succeeded (Score:5, Insightful)
The ad was a complete success. Can you believe that, after reading about it on Google News, I actually sought out and watched the commercial? Can you believe that right this very moment you are reading some unimportant commentary by someone whose opinion doesn't matter whatsoever about a TV commercial?
Score one for Microsoft.
What "delicious" means (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at your common PHB. Likes "delicious food" as opposed to what the Mac guy eats, probably raw food or wheat grass or something. Thinks butt-wagging and slapstick are funny. Probably laughs at Seinfeld re-runs. Is glad he doesn't shop at the cheap shoe store for athletic shoes, but probably gets his dress shoes there, because who can tell. Has Mexican neighbors, is uncomfortable knowing he's in the same class they are.
This ad is brilliantly tarteted as a sort of subconscious reminder that PHB doesn't have to be a Mac guy, darnit, and he's good enough. Microsoft is here to shove more Applebees cake down his throat.
Needs more Larry David (Score:5, Insightful)
Seinfeld the comedian does OK on the stage in front of an audience, speak + pause + laugh + continue, but Seinfeld the show was funny because of this guy [wikipedia.org]. This commercial lacks the depth of a multi-faceted Larry David narrative and fails to be funny. Looks like Microsoft hired the wrong guy...
There's one thing they *didn't* do that stands out (Score:5, Insightful)
I, too, was throughly unimpressed by the ad, but there is one thing they didn't do: Play Apple's mud slinging game.
I enjoy the "I'm a mac" ads -- they're just about the only commercials I'll intentionally watch -- but they're pretty aggressive. They blatantly, and actively attempt to belittle their competition. The latest two show "PC" resting on his laurels, and trying to deceive people into purchasing him -- both suggesting that "PC" doesn't have his users' best interests at heart.
This commercial doesn't do that at all. Some have speculated that was the goal: making it clear that they feel that they don't have to insult their competition. Whether they're just trying to win points for being the nice guy, or they're trying to suggest that they don't have to stoop to Apple's level because they're just that superior, I don't know.
Re:It did exactly what it was supposed to do. (