Posted on Tuesday 6th of February 2007 at 13:12 in Apple

Latest Mac ads sell both platforms short

I've been watching those funny "Get a Mac" adverts using Mitchell and Webb and listening to the messages they send (if you've not seen them, they're essentially the same as the US ads so the same message applies) and I can't help but feel that both the Mac and it's PC adversary are being sold short.

The general angle
The campaigns are being marketed on the strength of the Mac's appeal to the "average" user, so it's explained that they're fun, like water-fights in the summer whereas the PC is like making bar charts at the kitchen table. So the overall message is "Mac = 100% fun, PC = office and dull.

But... what?
Why are Apple selling the Mac on the strength that it's only useful for trivial tasks that mobile phones have now managed to master? I appreciate what they're trying to do - marketing the machine to "basic" users, saying PC's are unstable, not secure and primarily useful for work whereas the Mac is fun.

I don't understand.

In one of the adverts they're explaining that the PC is an office machine and that the office mentality shouldn't be at home. By extension, they're saying the Mac has no business use whatsoever and by purchasing one you're limiting your career. The PC explains that to be successful in business you need a single goal, a dedicated aim - and he/it's right, you do. The Mac explains that business has no place in the home.

This ends up meaning PC = for succesful people, Mac = for everyone else who just wants "simple" fun.

Good work Apple!
Excellent work there, kudos, you've managed to create an amusing campaign and market a product on the strengths that it can manage no more than the basic tasks mobile phones manage. The PC however is being advertised as dull and business oriented. You silly people Apple, yes the campaign will get people to buy Macs but on the strengths that they can play back files and show images. Awesome stuff!

If only word got out that people can do that on a PC too for 1/4 of the price then you'd be in trouble. Oh yeah, you can run a business off a PC - something Apple seem to be amazingly proud to contradict for the Mac.

Sometimes I don't understand marketing.

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