It's a Commercial About Nothing
 

This is the first ad for Microsoft featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Sienfeld. They're intended to be Microsoft's answer to the smug Apple "I'm a Mac" adds, but quite frankly this commercial makes no sense.

I saw it yesterday on TV and didn't know what the fuck the message was. If that's their retaliation, it failed.

Is it passe to say "the cake is a lie"?

And I agree, it looked like a long chunk of wasted time to me.

And yet, it gets posted here at TFP. ;) And several other forums as well. It works, if only for that reason, alone.

I think the message is obvious.. In the future, PCs will be edible.

mmmmmmmm yummy. Edible. I think Mr. Gates wanted an excuse to be in a commercial with Sienfeld. This is the result.

video is no longer available

I saw it last night, too. Like Craven said, it gets people talking. That's all it needs to do.

who got paid how much for this crap ?

xoxoxoo

Well, does Microsoft require mindshare? I don't think so. They require "cool". I don't believe that they achieved it with this ad.

I've searched around, and finally found a positive review of the ad: Today @ PC World Talk Nerdy To Me: Seinfeld + Gates = Underrated?. After reading that review... well, I'm just as lost as before.

Seinfeld got paid. It's a $300 million commercial campaign. Yeah....:shakehead:

Meh.

I mean, if it were anybody else besides Bill Gates, I could see it working. But the simple fact that Gates isn't an actor, let alone a comedian.

Plus, it's not advertising anything, just M$. Unlike the "I'm A Mac, I'm A PC" commercials, which actually, you know, sell stuff, these just say "Hey look, we have Seinfeld."

it makes almost as much sense as Larry David's squeaky shoes.

its the anti-advertising ad. it's mildly amusing. I suspect Microsoft's idea here is to go (or appear to go) in the opposite direction of their perceived "hardcore world domination" business model.

I kinda doubt it'll be very effective.

I'm guessing this is a series.

Seinfeld was a series, right?

We'll have to see. There's no way they paid $300 million for this one clip. Is there?

Microsoft is taking a risk and is trying to go viral. It can appeal to a wide audience at the same time. If it pans out well, it just might pay off.

I'm not disappointed in it yet. I'm intrigued.