AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Converteroo

While Denise and I were in Denver, we fell into a three-handed chat (sixhanded, unless Kevin throws the total off in an unexpected way) with Kevin Marks about the preponderance of TiBooks among the bloggers. (Actually, “preponderance” is too strong a word; “prominence” would be better.) She and I were swapping my ’Book back and forth as we chatted with Kevin. I think that once, Chris Locke grabbed the keyboard (did you notice that he typed with a different accent, Kevin?).

Anyway, Denise and I mused that we might be suitable candidates for Apple “Switcher” ads. Denise had been using a PC until earlier this year; and I used a Kaypro CP/M machine until about 1987.

Now, of course, the great foofaraw surrounds the revelation that Microsoft’s marketing department had a highly original idea and put together an ad suggesting that Mac users had good reasons to convert to MS XP. Unfortunately, the Microsoft example was fiction-based-on-fact (“Trust us,” they say, “the copywriter really was describing her own experience”), while the Apple ads were facts-used-for-marketing (a different kind of fiction). Apple gets the Ellen Feiss fan club, and Microsoft pulls its ad and apologizes.

Maybe I can offer to write an ad for Microsoft, describing what it would be like if I did switch—I mean, “convert.” “:I wouldn’t have thought Hell would be so chilly. Look, a snowball!”

“Once they showed me the flying pigs, I realized I just had to get Microsoft XP.”

“George Bush’s statesmanlike peroration in explanation of his decision to demobilize US forces in the Mideast and devote the war savings to building hospitals and universities around the globe convinced me that Microsoft really was where it’s at.”

It’s odd that the two modes of puffery seem to make such a sharp contrast when both Apple and Microsoft are simply plain trying to sell you a new operating system. Microsoft’s was clearly a bungled move, Apple’s a fairly conventional advertising ploy (I remember when Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch), but they’re still just advertising.

Posted by AKMA at October 14, 2002 10:49 PM | TrackBack