Apple to Microsoft: You Can't Put Frosting on Manure

In the end, Apple just couldn’t help itself. Microsoft’s new “I’m a PC … and I’ve been made into a stereotype” ad campaign was just too wide and deserving a target. Apple could no more ignore it than Steve Jobs could hold back his pitching arm upon finding Steve Ballmer sitting above the dunk tank at the Santa Clara County Fair. So it was inevitable, really, that we’d see Apple take a few potshots at Microsoft’s “transformative” new “made on a Mac” marketing campaign in two new “Mac vs. PC” ads that debuted over the weekend. The first ad, “The V Word,” pokes fun at Redmond for trying to promote Vista without mentioning it by name. The second, “Bean Counter,” mocks Microsoft for spending $300 million to advertise Vista instead of using that money to fix it.

Ironic, isn’t it, that Apple (AAPL) would slag Microsoft’s (MSFT) use of its ad budget by producing a new ad of its own expressly for that purpose? Still, Apple does have a point. As I noted here back in July, proposing to fix technology problems with advertising is rarely a wise idea.

Previously:

• “Vista” Means Always Having to Say You’re Sorry
• Seriously, Windows Is Just Another Way of Saying We Have Each Other?
• Which Do You Like Better, Steve: “No Mac for You!” or “Vista–Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”?
• The Simple Life: Gates and Seinfeld, the Hilton and Richie of Tech
• Hi. I’m a PC … and I Was Made on a Mac

[Image Credit: Worth1000]