Despite the mind-numbing frequency of political ads in our TV market, Apple is still establishing a lot of views for its amusing series of commercials featuring the Mac Guy and PC Guy. Naturally, the Mac guy is cool, laid back, and clever, while the PC Guy is a stiff, bumbling, nerdy doofus. These are some of the more entertaining ads on TV, and a welcome relief from moveon.org attack ads and the like. Even if you disagree with the basic premise of this Apple ad series, you can’t help but be amused. After my recent post about iPod style being the key ingredient in the success of that device, I began to wonder if Apple was targeting Microsoft’s impending Zune device and music service, at least for collateral damage.
If you accept the premise that music player sales are driven by fashion and style, then it would behoove Apple to paint Microsoft in as unfashionable a light as possible. Unlike our political candidates, who seem to have no such compunction, Apple would no doubt choose to forego showing a blurry picture of a frowning Bill Gates, with a voiceover saying, “Would you buy a music player from this billionaire?” But… what if they could target a substitute for Gates… say a plumper guy who isn’t nearly as smart as Gates but manages to convey a strong sense of geekiness?
I’m sure much of Apple’s Mac Guy vs. PC Guy campaign is intended to sell more Apple computers… but it wouldn’t surprise me if the pre-Zune blitz was also geared to boosting Microsoft’s nerdy image.
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