'Smug Little Twit' Mac Guy Gets Heaved From Apple Campaign

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In reaction to an apparent country-wide disdain for Apple's Mac Guy in its current campaign, the company will not ask Mac Guy Justin Long back for the next iteration of the campaign. Calling the Mac Guy a "smug little twit," Slate ad critic Seth Stevenson think Apple is "parodying its own image while also cementing it." This is what passes for big news in our industry. Next

Written by Steve Hall    Comments (15)     File: Brands, Campaigns     Nov- 9-06  
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Comments

What.

I really can't believe that I'm reading this. I love these commercials. Granted, I'm 22, but I am nowhere near dressing like the mac in the commercials. I'm very conservative and I use both Mac and PC on a regular basis. Argh. They're taking away what was great about these commercials: the two actors had on-screen chemistry; they worked well together and now they're going to destroy that.

I kind of feel separated from the rest of the crowd right now, because I am certainly not of the majority: "Virtually everyone who watches it comes away liking the "PC guy" while wanting to push the "Mac guy" under a bus." This sounds like an insecurity issue to me.

Posted by: Victor Fetís on November 9, 2006 12:01 PM

I agree with Victor. This is like asking Abbott to leave the Abbott-Costello duo because he is, I dunno, "too silly." It's the chemistry between the two that is the rasison d'etre for the commercials.

Posted by: Biff Shankley on November 9, 2006 12:28 PM

They shouldn't have fired him. They should have replaced the PC guy with the Dell "dude" instead. People would have flocked to the Mac camp.

Posted by: iBore on November 9, 2006 12:57 PM

I don't see what's so bad about him, either. The spots are written smug tongue-in-cheek. And mac people *are* smug (myself included� I'm a Mac snob. I'd never go back to a PC). If people don't like the spots, maybe it's time to make some new spots, not just re-cast. I agree that Mac is in a way parodying its own image, but if they were really trying to do that, why not go extreme with it? These ads are based on human/mac/pc truths... and if people don't want to take a look in the mirror, then that's their problem.

Posted by: megan on November 9, 2006 01:30 PM

Problem with those adds (for Apple) is that the PC guy is too good, instead of being repellent. I like him, not the Mac "twit."

Posted by: Doug Haslam on November 9, 2006 02:28 PM

Just highlights the insecurities of Windoze users who probably identify too well with the pudgy schlub PC-guy using outdated technology. Yes, I'm an over-40, female, dedicated Mac user who appreciates the "fitness" of both the computer and the Mac-guy who embodies all the coolness of Mac while being quietly matter-of-fact about its advantages.

I thought the Mac-guy, under the circumstances, is rather self-effacing. The Windoze guy just knows he's defeated.

Posted by: Lydia Sugarman on November 9, 2006 02:56 PM

"So, while you're doing mathematical equations, I'll be graphically engineering an art installation and boning two chicks at the same time."
-Apple Guy

Posted by: insecure PC user on November 9, 2006 03:04 PM

LOL, nice one "insecure" - but seriously, the Mac guy is a cool cat. i never thought he was a twit because he is such a nice dude. yes, he's a hipster. but, he is always apologetic and sincere to PC and PC is always meaning well, but just ending up befuddled. it's so innocent. taking offense to any of this "happy-fun-time" is a cmplex built on the inability to effortlessly bag chicks or dudes. confused... whoever thinks Mac is a smug twit: your epidermis is showing.

Posted by: Tim to the H. on November 9, 2006 03:19 PM

Now would "Mac guy" be a UTF or a Schmooze?

http://www.hipsterhandbook.com/

Posted by: Edward on November 9, 2006 03:23 PM

No way! Those commercials are awesome. It's one my husband and I don't speed by with our TiVO remote, so that's saying something. They're funny, catch attention and (maybe) cause a little controversy... isn't that what most great commericals should do?

So sad....

Posted by: Lindy Bartell on November 9, 2006 04:57 PM

I love the Mac guy and the PC guy is even lovable. It's wrong to change the duo dynamics. Don't do it.

Posted by: takingasickday on November 9, 2006 07:05 PM

I don't get it either... I agree with the majority of comments here, particularly "he is always apologetic and sincere to PC and PC is always meaning well, but just ending up befuddled."

Mac guy, to me, always conveyed respect - I don't understand where the 'smug' tag is coming from.

What a shame. Another campaign too clever to actually live.

Posted by: 40somethingMacHead on November 9, 2006 07:16 PM

I agree with everyone here...i love the mac guy and think the whole concept is genious...i am in a transition period between pc and mac and I dont find anything wrong with this commercial...it makes me feel better about my mac purchase...and that is the evoked emotion mac is looking for...therfore its perfect

Posted by: Kristen on November 10, 2006 02:03 PM

Apple better get some real benefits information into their spots cause Vista is gonna kick some ass.

Posted by: bill on November 10, 2006 11:52 PM

It does not matter anyway.

Advertising is Dead!

A sensational headline? Maybe so, but advertising as we know it is going to change in a very big way because of new advances in technology. If you have read my book First, Best, or Different� or you frequent my log, you know that I am very critical of the current advertising model, since I consider it largely ineffective and grossly overpriced.

The current advertising model is mass media based and delivers messages through print ads, television and radio commercials, and recently the internet. The ads presume that all customers will want what the sponsor has, will understand the ad, and will respond to the call for action. These ads use a �spray and pray� methodology that is based on the assumption that, if you spend enough money and contact the customer a gazillion times, the prospective buyer will eventually get the message and buy the product.

This is, of course, absurd. The customer today has grown totally numb to all of these messages and does not want one-size-fits-all products anyway. Instead, the customer wants the product in a special size, color, configuration, and shape; it must be unique, if not custom. It must be delivered at a special time with special packaging. Mass marketing is so yesterday.

Now enters IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). Perhaps the simplest definition of IPTV would be television content, that instead of being delivered through traditional formats and wiring, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks. You will get this new content through cable, the telephone line, and satellite. Coming to your plasma TV soon, this new content will allow you to watch exactly want you want when you want to watch it (remember, 99% of the current TV content is prerecorded anyway).

This new delivery mechanism will create a new industry of �mini-producers� who will create very specific content for special people like you. You will be able to get content as specific as a golf talk show for left handed duffers living in Orange County, California who want to hook up with opposite sex golfers for fun and frolic. No smokers please. I am not kidding.

Since all of this new content will use the newest technologies, the viewer will leave tracks or digital fingerprints allowing the advertisers to perfectly pinpoint their messages to exactly the right customer: you.

Alas, the advertising industry will be saved!

John Bradley Jackson

Posted by: John Bradley Jackson on November 12, 2006 03:06 AM

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