Just to give a little feedback of my own...
I really liked this one. I've started to understand what they are doing now. The best result though, is that I'm looknig forward to the next one, they've got me hooked.
Few things I've wanted to comment on in this thread though.
1) People saying that this still doesnt make them want to go out and buy a PC.
Would any advert you could possibly conceive ever do that unless it was informing you of 95% discounts just down the road. What ridiculously short term fix do you think these adverts are meant to have? Considering this is a computer forum, have any of you ever based a major tech purchase on an advert?
In so far as seeing an ad informed me of a new product that I then decided to buy, yes. In fact, it happens somewhat regularly. The fact that I research the purchase before making it doesn't invalidate the fact that often it starts with an ad. And if that weren't the case, then why would any company bother to spend money on ads?
2) A lot of you seem to think this advert is purely about making Bill and Jerry to be "just like you" real people and then point to them being rude as betraying this idea. Youre missing the point.
No real comment here. I don't think that. These ads just puzzle me.
3) Have any of you noticed that about half of the people on an apple forum still like this advert? And loads of you still post "epic fail" or "microsoft have wasted all that money". If you don't like the advert, just say you don't like it, or why you don't think it will work, why not add to the conversation?
Okay. As ads, these seem rather pointless. I understand some of what they're trying to do, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't see them as being all that successful. There have been a number of ads that I have truly enjoyed over the years. Frequently, I don't remember what the ads are for. This begs the question, despite the fact that I liked them and I remember them, are they actually successful ads?
By contrast, I don't really like these ads. They seem to be taking some of the worst aspects of Seinfeld (a TV show that I enjoyed some of the time and loathed the rest of the time) and applying them to commercials with BG in them. This, in general, leaves me cold. Then you add in the fact that there isn't really a clear product being advocated (soft cake-like computers? amoeba's with a blog?) and you end up with what seems to me to be a truly pointless ad. Does the ad have entertainment value? Marginal. But does it at least convey a strong message about the product? No.
Now, I will freely grant that I may have a minority opinion about the entertainment value of these ads, as I am aware that I am in the minority in my opinion of the Seinfeld TV show. But, this is, after all, my opinion.
4) Not understanding or getting where an advert is going, isnt a sign of the adverts failure. A lot of posts in this very thread explain what is trying to be achieved here.
You know, that's really easy to say, but when the thread has exceeded 500 posts, finding posts on particular topics within this thread isn't easy. So, while I'm sure there are some wonderful posts about what these ads are trying to do, I'm not going to wade through pages and pages of posts with people saying "WTF?" to try to find them.
Lastly, and this applies to all threads and sites every where. Everyone who writes M$ instead of MS, or Micro$oft instead of Microsoft, are you five years old? What are you complimenting how much money they have? Do you think that Apple or any other large company isnt governed entirely by money? Its stupid things like that made it so hard for me to switch to Macs in the first place.
Okay, so, to this last part I have to say "grow up". This is a Mac board. Have you ever visited a PC board? I have. People on PC boards tend to be even harsher toward Apple than people here are toward MS. Sure all companies are driven by money, but from the perspective of a lot of people here, MS takes this to a new extreme. Remember all the different pricing options for Vista? A bit ridiculous. In any event, the expression of this perspective, correct or not, by calling them Micro$oft or M$ hardly seems such a crime. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people write "CRApple" or "Macincrap" or, one of my favorites: "Most Applications Crash In No Time Or the System Hangs = M.A.C.I.N.T.O.S.H."
I guess my point is that any time you go somewhere where you'll find fanatics, you're going to find slurs being slung against the other guys. Personally, I don't consider myself to be a fanatic. I like Macs better than PCs, but I work with both and I can see the strengths and weaknesses of both. Mac's aren't perfect, and PCs aren't spawns of the evil one (and Bill Gates isn't the evil one

). So, when I'm on this board, or a PC board, I just let those slurs go by. Sometimes I'm amused by them. Other times I ignore them. I suggest you work toward the same.