Marketing Ads: I Am a Mac, I Am a PC - Essay Example

The director of this TV ad concentrated more on attacking the weaknesses of PC and projecting the merits of Mac. Moreover, this ad was intended to make a direct comparison between Mac and PC so that the viewers will get a clear picture about the merits of Mac over PC. However, this ad failed to make much impact in the market and as a result of that Apple forced to withdraw it in 2010. This paper analyses why this marketing campaign failed and what could have been done better to make it still alive.

Suggestions for the improvement of the ad “I am a Mac, I am a PC” “A good number of people dislike the commercial series because it was all about making the PC look bad” (Misaimed Fandom: Advertising, n.d.). Apple should have avoided direct comparisons between Mac and PC in this ad. Since majority of the people all over the world are users of PC, they know very well about the merits and demerits of PC. Apple’s attack on PC was taken negatively by the PC savvy people all over the world.

Instead of making any direct comparisons with PC, Apple could have projected the merits of Mac in an indirect manner. It should be noted that Microsoft started a marketing campaign called I am a PC to counter the threats of Apple’s “I am a Mac, I am a PC” which got more acceptance among the public. . Both of them are intellectuals with a normal physique. However, Apple tried to portray Gates as an oversized person though this ad. Even though Apple’s intention was to spread the message that PC is oversized than Mac, viewers taken it in another manner.

They thought that Apple was ridiculing Bill Gates. Apple could have avoided such personal criticisms in their advertisement. The Mac is in some ways the "straight guy" foil to PC's comedy. But unfortunately he also sucks all the comedy out of the ad whenever he says anything other than "Hi, PC" or "PC, what are you doing?" Whenever there's actual information to be conveyed by Mac ("Oh, yeah, thanks to [Apple product X] I can do that too - and better") it's a boring sales spiel. It doesn't further the comedy (Hi, I'm a Mac… Beep, beep!, 2008). On many occasions, the comedies in this ad failed to catch the attention of the people.

It should be noted that occasional comedy or comedy relevant to the circumstances attracts the people rather than continuous comedy. In other words, apple could have avoided the volume of comedies in this marketing commercial so that viewers might not be getting bored. "PC" is definitely a superior machine that people never like to mock it. Instead of attacking PC, Apple could have explained that how a PC could become a Mac. The utilities of PC’s were proven beyond doubts. It may have some drawbacks, but it is a fact that people love it more than any other machines.

Under such circumstances, Apple could have avoided direct attacks on PC in their advertisements in order to get more acceptances to their marketing campaign. It should be noted that all the above suggestions for the modification of this ad would have incurred no additional