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Bad Buzz: Seinfeld ad falls flat for techies
Jerry Seinfeld appears in the first of a series of ads in a campaign by Microsoft for its Vista operating system to counter the success of a series of ads by Apple Inc. for its Mac line.
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Published: September 6, 2008
NEW YORK
No soup for Microsoft?
The software giant's new ad starring Jerry Seinfeld has drawn largely negative reviews online after premiering Thursday night during NBC's broadcast of the National Football League's season-start game.
The ad was the start of a highly anticipated $300 million advertising campaign that Microsoft is trying to rebuff Apple's popular TV commercials, which have portrayed Microsoft and PCs as uncool.
In the commercial -- which can be found at Microsoft.com and on video-sharing sites -- Seinfeld is walking through a mall when he spots Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at a "Shoe Circus" store. The comedian then helps Gates pick out a new pair of shoes while the jokes come quick: showering with clothes on, Gates being a "10," platinum credit cards for a fictional shoe store.
It's a zany ad that packs a lot of quirkiness into 90 seconds. With no direct mention of Microsoft or its operating system, Vista, the commercial concludes with the slogan: "The future, delicious." The ad was created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky -- a firm with a reputation for oddness. Many technology and advertising blogs have turned to Seinfeld's trademark comedy description -- "nothing" -- to describe the ad.
"Huh?" wrote Abbey Klaassen for Ad Age. "You could be forgiven for not knowing what the heck Microsoft's new TV ad ... was about."
Dan Frommer, writing for the Silicon Alley Insider, called the ad "not funny" and said that the shoe-store setting "is not going to help Microsoft look any cooler."
For the blog Techcrunch.com, Michael Arrington noted that the "tech and geek crowd is a little underwhelmed" by the ad.
Arrington called it "a far cry from the brilliant Microsoft vs. Mac ads."
Brad Brooks, the vice president of Windows consumer-product marketing, said in a video posted on the Windows press Web site that the ad is a "teaser" meant to "engage customers in a conversation ... to get the conversation going again about what Windows means in people's everyday lives."
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