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By Seb Janacek, 8 May 2006 13:10

COMMENT

Apple's latest 'Get a Mac' ad campaign points out PCs' deficiencies and Macs' superiority. But, asks Seb Janacek, will this tired dialogue compel the masses to switch platforms?

Apple has launched its latest marketing campaign aimed at converting PC users into Mac users. The six 30-second TV ads feature two actors assuming the role of a PC and a Mac and discussing their respective merits.

Apple ad campaigns have become increasingly less abstract since the first famous Orwellian ad for the original Macintosh in 1984. Meanwhile, as iconic as it was, the Think Different campaign - featuring historical figures as diverse as Albert Einstein, Ted Turner and Mahatma Gandhi - was distinctly a question of style above substance.

More recently, the much-derided Switch campaign launched in the summer of 2002 focused on users and featured 'real life' Apple converts bemoaning their difficult PC years and evangelising the ease of use and simplicity of their new platform of choice - the Mac.

The Switch campaign was dismissed by many as being ineffective. The majority of Switchers seemed to be the kind of people that the company already boasted as Mac veterans - writers, illustrators and DJs. Where were the 'ordinary people' - the typical PC users?

Roll forward four years and it's clear the 'Get a Mac' campaign is the natural successor to the Switch campaign; the audience and goal is identical - converting the average home PC user into a Mac user.

The pitch is also the same: PCs cause you no end of problems; get a Mac and watch those problems vanish.

Two things have changed since the Switch campaign, though. Firstly, the company has made its own switch to Intel chips, ensuring that the Mac's chip speed - a barometer for consumers looking at upgrading their hardware - makes for a level playing-field with Windows machines.

Secondly, the phenomenal success of the iPod has ensured the Apple brand is now firmly ensconced in the consciousness of its target audience.

The format of the Get a Mac ads is sleek and effective, and uses dialogue between the two actors to highlight the superiority of the Mac over the PC.

The Mac is a young chap in jeans, a hooded top and sporting designer stubble. Meanwhile, the PC is a spectacled, middle-aged, suited business man - easily ruffled and technologically clueless.

The PC comes a distinct second on matters such as network and peripheral compatibility, and bundled 'digital hub' applications. In one ad, the Mac is seen reading an endorsement by Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg that claims the iMac is the best computer on the market.

The first two ads are the most interesting.

In 'Virus', the snuffling, sneezing PC explains that he's caught a 'doozy' of a virus, one of the 114,000 that exist for the PC platform and tells the Mac to stand well back. Not to worry, says the Mac, he doesn't get viruses. Surprised and still sneezing, the PC then crashes and falls over.

The second ad, 'Restarting', features the PC freezing a number of times in 30 seconds and having to restart and begin his intro again. The Mac explains that he doesn't need to restart at which point the PC freezes again and the Mac heads off to get IT.

A number of ads refer to both computers being able to run Microsoft Office, to iPods and to Apple's iLife suite of lifestyle apps for video, music and photos.

There's no mention about (the currently unsupported) Boot Camp, which allows Intel Macs to boot both Windows XP and Mac OS X. That's likely to come into play as soon as Leopard (OS X 10.5) breaks cover in late 2006 or early 2007 - roughly the same time as Windows Vista makes its belated appearance, barring any further delays from Seattle.

Despite the sleekness of the ads there are a few worrying elements.

First, although it may appear right for Apple to sing the praises of the Mac's current immunity to malware, the fear is that viruses will eventually become an issue for Mac users, particularly if the company continues to trumpet its system's impregnability. The statement is likely to be seen as an open invitation for malware writers to target the platform.

Either Apple doesn't believe this will happen or it may well feel confident enough about OS X's robust security that the threat can be repelled.

Secondly, the accusations of incompatibility and constant restarts are a little unfair to PCs, particularly for these who have been running Windows 2000 or XP. The constant restarting and Blue Screen of Death issues that plagued earlier versions of Windows haven't entirely vanished but they are by far the exception rather than the rule in modern systems.

Likewise, despite the undeniable simplicity of connecting cameras and peripherals to the Mac and the seamless integration with the iLife suite, there are a host of similar apps for Windows that do a pretty good job of recognising third-party devices. It's not as if this is a constant headache for the majority of PC owners.

Finally, the biggest problem with the ads lies with the very thing that makes them so effective: the simple characterisation of the two platforms.

This dichotomy panders to the old stereotypes about Macs and PCs: that the former is cool, unflappable and savvy, while the latter is unfashionable, bloated and unstable.

Furthermore, by characterising PC users as middle-aged, suited buffoons and Mac users as laid-back designer-types, the company runs the risk of alienating and insulting the very audience it's trying to convert to its premium product range.

The child-like music playing in the background adds to the impression that the target audience is being condescended to.

To an existing Apple user the ads are somewhat disappointing. Even if they are well made and funny, they seem to tread on old ground and repeat tired prejudices.

In the 'Better' advert, the Mac says of the PC: "You should see what this guy can do with a spreadsheet - it's insane."

Mac adds: "He [the PC] knows I'm better at life stuff - like music, pictures, movies and stuff... making websites and photo books is easy for me and for you... it's not."

The characterisation is clear and it's no coincidence that the two 'computers' seem to have been modelled on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates - though a Gates who has clearly been driven to a diet of pork pies and cheeseburgers by all the viruses, restarting and networking incompatibilities he has to endure.

The Get a Mac ads are an improvement on the Switch ads yet they don't overcome the main criticism - that Macs are too cool for 'the rest of us'.

Apple must now hope they don't generate animosity in the virus writing community - or, more importantly, among the campaign's target audience: the uninitiated.