Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

David Puddy, Meet the Mac: Here’s the “Seinfeld” Crossover Apple Ad You’ve Been Waiting For

In the old days, Apple sometimes used bonafide celebrities to help hawk its products–either willing participants like Jeff Goldblum or, via the miracle of archival footage, icons like Einstein, Dylan and Lennon. But for its long-running “I’m a Mac” campaign, Apple has primarily relied on actors who are most famous for appearing in Apple ads.

Here’s a new one that splits the difference: It features Patrick Warburton, best known as “Puddy” on “Seinfeld”*. A good chunk of Apple’s target audience will get a kick out of seeing a tertiary character from an iconic sitcom. And the chunk that doesn’t know or care about “Seinfeld” will be the none the wiser. Clever!

The really clever part, of course, is Apple getting the likes of me to distribute its advertising, gratis.

Oh. Speaking of those Jeff Goldblum ads, this is an old meme but I find it entertaining anyway: Someone went ahead and took all of his old Mac spots and slowed them down to half-speed. Which gives you an impression of what Jeff Goldblum might be like if he was rambling on about Apple (AAPL) products at the end of a very long night of drinking. There’s a whole set here, but this should give you a taste:

*Jerry Seinfeld himself, of course, became a Microsoft (MSFT) pitchman for a brief, largely unsuccessful  stint last year. But if you want to see him on TV this fall, check out the new season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiam,” where he’ll be appearing with all of his old cast-mates.

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work