nov 7
2008
Girl Talk Doesn't Use an Apple
Girl Talk does an "I'm a PC ad." As in, Microsoft.
10 comments
He's a PC because Apple laptops can't be put that flat anymore.
posted by mare at 9:36 PM on November 7, 2008 
"I'm a whore, and Microsoft gave me a pile of money to help them hold on to their dying empire just a little longer."
posted by alesh at 10:27 PM on November 7, 2008
You mean, like John Hodgman?
posted by Rex at 3:10 AM on November 8, 2008
Yeah, ok. Like Hodgman.
This smells a little different, tho. Hodgman is an actor and a comedian, so appearing in an ad is, like, related to his job? Whereas Gillis is a musician, and his thing reads as a straight up endorsement.
Too, while both companies have done arguably "evil" things, I think unquestionably Microsoft is "more evil."
Last, I think that if I used a Mac I'd take some vestigial pride in it. I use Windows, and I'm utterly cold about it. It's sometimes frustrating, at best just not annoying. Expressing pride in "being a PC" rings completely fake to me.
All this is just my gut reaction. Maybe I'm being full of it.
posted by alesh at 9:18 AM on November 8, 2008
Another victim of victim of marketing!
Seriously though, that most recent Mac campaign involving Hodgman setting aside money for his advertising budget is so unbelievably annoying. Just compare: how many Mac ads have you seen versus PC ads.
You're paying hundreds, probably thousands, of dollars more for computers because of those ads.
As far as quality... eh, you know what? I have Firefox open 24/7 and that's the only operating system I care about. They both work the same.
(I use a desktop PC and a laptop MacBook Pro.)
posted by Rex at 9:40 AM on November 8, 2008
Yah, all the ads are annoying. But how many Mac ads have you seen versus, say, car ads? Or laundry detergent ads?
I think it's pretty clear that Apple sets its prices based on what their research shows people are willing to pay. The increased advertising of late probably leads to a fractionally smaller profit rather then temporarily increased computer prices...
So yeah, firefox runs the same on both, but I know that you know that design makes a difference (noted: recent nod here to a $1,600 friggin CHAIR), and of course design is a much bigger focus and expense at Apple then marketing. (BTW, it continues to amaze me that not one single company can make a windows PC with some serious sense of design (Lenovo tries, but no cigar).)
Of course Gillis runs a lot more then firefox on his laptop. But even still, his choice isn't based on software. The reason "he's a PC" is that he trashes his notebooks all the time on tour, and those Toshiba notebooks hurt a lot less to throw out.
There: his endorsement is really a backhanded insult to PC's.
posted by alesh at 11:03 AM on November 8, 2008
But how many Mac ads have you seen versus, say, car ads? Or laundry detergent ads?
You're comparing an entire sector to a single company. And Mac still wins. I have seen WAY more Mac ads than detergent ads.
The increased advertising of late probably leads to a fractionally smaller profit rather then temporarily increased computer prices...
That doesn't sound like any sort of Steve Jobs logic. Actually, it sounds more like Bill Gates logic.
Of course Gillis runs a lot more then firefox on his laptop.
Yeah, mostly because there are so many more applications one can run on a PC.
Seriously, I honestly believe an entire nation of horn-rimmed, Metropolis-reading, marketing-doesn't-affect-me aesthetes have been completely bamboozled by Apple.
If you've used an Air, you know how fucking bad of a product that Apple can make*.
(In general, Apple makes slightly better computers, mostly because they control the OS and the hardware so they're able to integrate design and engineering more easily. But this vast Microsoft-is-bad conspiracy will end up being one of the best examples of the Bohos** getting tricked by slick marketing. Plus, they are a MUCH more closed, secretive, non-open-source-friendly company than Microsoft.)
* But I think the iPhone was such a leap past the rest of civilization that I've completely forgotten.
** I'm probably a Boho.
posted by Rex at 11:53 AM on November 8, 2008
I don't know about the Metropolis-reading aesthetes in New York, but the ones here in Miami are not all that righteous about their Macs. They use them because exactly because they're slightly better, and who wouldn't want a slightly better computer then a slightly worse one?
But I still think Hodgman was hired by apple for what he could do in those ads, and Gillis was hired because of what he is.
Maybe you're right about how many ads Apple has been running (I honestly don't watch enough TV to know), or maybe they're just targeting the shows you watch. Maybe all the detergent ads are on Ellen or something.
posted by alesh at 2:51 PM on November 8, 2008
something is magic about this, esp the comments.
posted by alesh at 11:07 PM on November 9, 2008
I bet at his concerts when his laptop screen says "An error occurred when displaying the previous error," people are like OMG this guy is so ironic!
posted by Eric at 9:00 PM on November 10, 2008
NOTE: The commenting window has expired for this post.
