what does advertising say to you?

[ving]

If you watch TV you have probably seen teh new advertising for the apple Mac. I remember my first impression of the first advert where they are introducing them selves... the ad has come a long way from there hey...

The picture below is taken from said advert showing the actors in their attire used for the ad. what does this picture say to you about the 2 computers (ie PC and Mac)?

I am wondering if they shouldhave been swapped...

[matt]

I reckon you're right.

I don't think Mac has any right to pitch itself as Mr Average Everyday Bloke

[snowyskiesau]

I don't agree with the ad implying that everything is standard on the Mac. It's only true
if you buy the Apple version of things.
I've some fruitless hours recently trying to get a scanner to work on a Mac mini. Ended up running it on XP in 10 minutes
[Saying this really hurts as I'm a Linux person :) ]

Here's a parody from Novell of the Mac vs PC ads. It sets the record straight.
http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2007/03/novell_launches.html

[fringe_dweller]

actually an add for 'scopes - and the one on the right is a young hip cool dude dob owner :thumbsup:

geez its only an add- litlle bit sensitive?

i find most people who winge about macs have never even owned one - certainly probably not a u beaut top of the line monster with all the bells and whistles, running the latest OS

they usually base their info on used some crappy machine running OS 7 while in primary school or something like that :shrug:

[snowyskiesau]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Mac mini I have.
I use it to run Starry Nights and for photo management (iPhoto). It was just a bit frustrating trying to do what (I thought) should have been a simple task.

My laptop has started to play up and come replacement time, I'll be giving serious consideration to an Apple laptop.

[xelasnave]

Well one thing is for sure some guy in marketing fed his family that week.
alex

[fringe_dweller]

:)

[xelasnave]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Geez Kearn dont waste your talent you are worth big bucks in a board room someplace;)
alex:) :) :)

[fringe_dweller]

Hi Geoff, mac mini's are a little underpowered for my taste, for one thing, at least the early ones did, can only use 5400 rpm HD with it!! and max 512 MB ram - yikes!

can understand anyone who used the early version of OS 10 (10.1, 10.2) on an G3 imac or something like that having a bad impression - 10.1 and 10.2 were total dogs of OS's, it is outrageous they were released at all really, but 9 was still good at least still then

[fringe_dweller]

:rofl: :rofl:
thanks Alex! i think its time to call Singo or sachii and sachii up? ;) :D

[fringe_dweller]

anyway, thats a bit rich mentioning that when we just saw the bill gates supporters and friends vista ad campaign with tv saturation commercials that seemed to portayed vista having new features that were groundbreaking like, when OS X has had for many years, and you were just copying us... again :D

:scared3:

[ving]

lol kearn :)

anyhow the picture suggests to me that macs arent really a serious computer. very relaxed and casual, it might be better suited to games than say business use. are they trying to hit on teh recreational market cause i am sure they'll loose you on the commercial business. neat and tidy vs casual bordering on unkempt, what do you want from a computer?

this isnt about us vs them, I just found the picture interesting :)

[Satchmo]

Judging from the photos and people who I know are totally brainwashed about their Macs, the ad is appealing to young urban professionals...people who pride themselves on thinking and living outside the square, like graphic artists and designers, plenty of money to spend probably not kids and morgages yet.

I've got to admit that the new Vista security measures , which inspired the ad, are ridiculous and clumsy. I'll be sticking with XP as long as humanly possible.

[xelasnave]

There are various steps in the selling "process";
I am not sure where to classify the stage that ad fits but d.i.c.k smith did it for me by putting a flyer in the mail box which laid out details of stock, prices and the closest store:) .

I was confused because there was no "star" saying I was doing the right thing dealing with them. How could one be sure they were used to dealing in electrical things with out a guy dressed like a scientist on their flyer??? :shrug:

I mean how can you buy something if it is not endorsed by a football player or ex swimming star? You know real experts that can help guide you;) ...

How could I relate? how could I feel as though I belonged to a "sick" group?.

I was lost and had to go on the prices offered, and tiresome details about RAM and HD capacity I had no idea which machine was the ïn one... and I am so proud of myself I managed the purchase without a role model in sight:thumbsup: .

This front of mind advertising misses the point, which is... get out and sell something...today!.

So much money is wasted establishing "profile" when the best way is to simple sell stuff and stand behind the product...and be honest.
Mmmm the last makes one consider how honest is our ad here... lets have some facts.. how many people buying wear jeans ..you know important facts.

But one feels uneasy buying stuff unless someone needing cash, capitalizing on their past career, with the knowledge gained there from, can help out by telling you that brand X is best because they have been paid to say so;) .

When I need an air conditioner I always consult an ex cricketer not to would be foolish:lol: :lol: :lol: .

Personally I dislike ads (and this does not leave many I like) that plays to the ego.. no doubt the ad we are looking at here seeks to appeal to someone with a particular opinion of how "cool" they are I guess as if not "cool" they fall into the "strange" box maybe:D .

But if your wardrobe has suits and jeans you must need two lap tops maybe??
Advertising where would we be without dam good advertising:shrug: .
Alex:) :) :)

[DobDobDob]

Wise man :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

The rule of thumb with a new O/S is to wait till the second service pack :whistle:

[fringe_dweller]

the level of uninformed vitriol aimed at mac from brainwashed microsoft hugging bill gates lovers i have seen over the years just has me bamboozled! whats it all about??, :shrug: does it stem from some traumatic experience as an infant in the cradle when steve jobs double clicked and removed their pacifiers? or they were bullied at school by a classic? where does this hatred come from?? it doesnt make any sense? its just a computer/system - what did apple macs ever do to you?
it just seems to be some kind of herd instinct/ follow the leader kind of cult that cant be rationally explained!
what are you all so scared of? afraid you might like it? :P
why bring up this ad when there are thousands/millions which stretch believablity - you know - 'coke is it' 'our product is better than all the other products', 'vote for us! interest rates will never rise in our lifetime if you do' ect. so why this particular ad is singled out :shrug: its just an ad!!!
look aty the ebay ad on the right - it says 'everyones is doing it' doing what? I'm not - so that is patently a lie fabrication, embellishment.
David i happen to know you mysterious views on macs is a matter of record - i believe last time it was ' they should all be put on a bonfire and burned' or something like that - funny thing is you have never explained why you dont like macs - and neither has anyone else for that matter! whats not to like about a unix BSD based OS!!!!??
and as for compatablity with periphels (scanner) the funny thing is, if you have the time/inclination, you can get just about any unix/linux driver and use it if there isnt a mac update out (maybe you should update your system regularly - unfortunately requires BB of course) not to mention poor support from peripheal makers, as it is all skewed towards the dominant blindly follow the herd cheap as chips computers OS, so dont blame apple for that!)

[fringe_dweller]

and this argument that macs are expensive is nonsense, yes initially they are - but they remain compatible with apple upgrades much longer then an equivalent PC would, my last tower lasted me 6 years and was still going strong and faultlessly when i stopped using it, never ever had a problem with it. i would advise any prospective mac user to spend up big initially to get many years of service, i dont like the budget stuff - and lets face it the only reason they aint cheap is they dont license clones, who use cheapass components, unlike the competition. and for those still not aware of it, the new intel dual boot macs run both XP and Vista,as well as OS X, and better than many PC's probably - so the arguement is lost on me - and BTW i have a PC for those jobs the macs dont have the neccasary proggies, solely because it aint the dominant OS

[xelasnave]

Kearn you are so right why pick one just one add by one vendor:thumbsup: ... lets have a go at each and every one:lol: :lol: :lol: ...its hard to know who to select:) ... maybe I had better read a paper and look at the TV get some inspiration.
Major drink and food suppliers ..what about the Government they have a huge ad budget these days and really they do push the suit thing...;)
alex:) :) :)

[Dujon]

fringe_dweller, I can guess why many have misgivings about the Mac, particularly if they worked with them/on them some 15-20 years ago.

The units themselves were expensive; the software was extraordinarily priced - as were ancillary parts; access for service was ridiculously difficult and information virtually non-existent.

Maybe today the Mac is a different beast. I had the displeasure of working on a couple of them when I owned an electronic-cum-computer shop. The owner of one of the machines requested an upgrade of memory together with supply and installation of a particular program. Both were very expensive, even though I managed to source both the memory and software at significant discount. Most suppliers wouldn't budge on their price.

After installation the thing ran like a sick dog (though it did that before the changes, I might add). I ran a similar graphics program on a demonstration model of a 'clone' Intel 286 machine in the shop. It put the Mac to shame. For a machine which was marketed at that time on its graphic capabilities I was most disappointed as I had been looking forward to seeing a magnificent display of computing capability. Alas, it was not to be.

So, ever since that day my opinion of Macs has been somewhat coloured by the experience (I might add that the owner was most pleased with the fruit of my efforts and gladly parted with his small fortune).

I stress again that I have not seen a modern Mac in action. No doubt, just like the Intel boxes, they have improved by many levels of magnitude and (perhaps) are even better than the Intel clone on which I now type this lot of drivel.

Don't get me wrong; I'm no great fan of MS's offerings and sometimes wish that the company would forget the legacy thing and start again from scratch. Then I think 'no, not a good idea' as I've too much tied up in software (e.g. my bookkeeping, word processing and spreadsheet).

*edit*

Sorry. I've gone way off topic here. I'll shut up now. :(

[ving]

lol, its not so much that i dont like macs kearn its that i am a pc person... it just what i do. but as i said, this thread wasnt intended to be a us vs them thing it is just about that picture. I recon Macs are pretty.
In my opinion if Apple wanted to promote thier Mac as a serious item then the suited guy is visually a more appealing subject to get that message across then what they have picked.
Funny tho, the PC adverts never ever say dont buy a Mac or Macs are useless... :rolleyes:

[xelasnave]

Girls in swim suits would be better.
alex

[mill]

There is no difference between a Mac and a pc i think.
It is the same old dreaded story between intel and amd cpu's.
As long as they do what you want them to do for you then they are both good computers.
As always , when a computer or program gets very popular , then hackers WILL try to hack it will it be a mack or pc.

[fringe_dweller]

Alex were do we start mate - maybe ribena with its supposed vitamin C content ;) :lol:

Dujon, i got into macs soley because my best mate was an apple tech/evangalist - so i never paid for much right from the start ;) since then i have known several mac techs - and only one still is purely mac because theres nothing to do - not enough work in returns/repairs coz hardly anything goes wrong with 'em - one even became a full on PC tech as well just to find some work LOL, of which he found plenty of course, to do with PC's. do you realise that apple make their techs sit the exam every year whereas PC techs, once they have done the relevant course for a specific version, thats it done, for the rest of their lives!
I understand what your saying re RAM, in the bad ol days, its been many years since you had to buy their specific brand of memory (their is no apple memory anymore), and yes it was a ripoff, you could of used the equivalent PC memory as it turned out, but you would of voided your warranty if anything went wrong.
Macs have come a LOOOOOOONNNGGG way from then. they arent perfect, but please tell me about a large company that is perfect? and there has been some bad QC at times in recent years - it seems if someone has one bad experience with apple, and then they bad mouth them for the rest of their lives! do they do tht with MS stuff?
having said that, at the time when i first got into macs, the mac OS was light years ahead of windoze 98 and 2000 ect. The gap narrowed greatly with advent of SP2 XP, thats for sure, I use XP on my dell lappy, and its pretty damn good, but i had been a mac user for so long, i dont see why i should stop altogether?

Hi Dave, isnt that 'macs are pretty' another putdown thing I hear from PC evangalists, funny now you guys have the pretty looking vista ;) sucked in bigtime LOL yeh maybe the budget models for schools and little kids are that way, whats wrong with not being a boring beige or black box? btw my dual chip G5 tower is actually SEXY and stately, and i wouldnt buy one of those silly looking monitors if you paid me ! hmmm i seem to remember you had a bad experience with an faulty ipod from memrory, is this the source of grudge? :D

[xelasnave]

I withdraw the girl idea as that is sexist but such a throw away line points to other serious faults in advertizing generally.
Yes how about Ribena I was most upset about that news as I used to insist my kids drank it ... They should be flogged mmm I need another list.
alex

[xelasnave]

The ribena people should be flogged not my kids.
alex

[Dujon]

fringe_dweller. I suspect that we understand each other. I have no particular allegiance when it comes to OSs other than keeping my current (expensive) software running. Perhaps I've locked myself in to MS by spending so much money . . . such is life.

Back to advertisements:

I always laugh when a certain battery producer creates ads comparing their alkaline product to that of a competitor's heavy duty units. It is simply stupid. You might as well compare a four cylinder normally aspirated motor vehicle with a fuel injected turbo-charged V8. To be honest I don't know how they get away with it.

[xelasnave]

John they get away with stuff because we let them... consumers have the power of choice sadly some simply take it.. and so the problem becomes worse. Ads are necessary no question but empires now exist built on stupidy of consumer apathy.. I make the choice every time I make a purchase..not that what I buy drives the economy but I feel a little better when I constantly exercise choice based on actually thinking prior to buying the crap we are fed. No one else has to follow my lead my point is simply I wont accept that I can be simply conned.
I found myself once saying at the end of a commercial for a country and western singer ..this guy is great... only to realise I had never actually heard him sing anything.. it can be that way.. but never again.
alex

[xelasnave]

The singer did not have a degree in western folk culture or music but one in marketing and business management:eyepop: ...Garth Brookes to name a name:) .. good one him capitalising one all his talents:thumbsup: .He conned me good ...but like his music or not what a player:)
alex

[ving]

what? but they are pretty! :) we had imacs here at work and they looked great in orange and blue! and a collegue of mine has one of those laptop ones in orange, she love it! :)

sorry Kearn, just dangling a worm...

My daughter has the bad nano, it now gathers dust and she uses her new mobile with a 1gb micro SD card instead most of the time while her friend puts up with a faulty shuffle till she can get the same of a similar phone.

PCs need to be made to look sexy tho. my brother has done some case modding on his and it looks great! but that sort of thing is beyond my talent.

I had a girlfriend with a Mac once so I am not as against them as you might think... (I dumped her of course :rofl: )

[DobDobDob]

I have a dozen or so computers in my Network and none of them have there cases, I take them off as standard to air cool them. My older ones probably don't need it as much as the faster newer ones, but I am a creature of habit and I take them all off. :P

As far as the thread is concerned, the advertising does zip for me. I like most people in business, purchase computer equipment on a need to basis, getting whatever is best suited to the task at hand whilst always mindful not to blow the budget out too much. It's horses for courses.

From a home users viewpoint, the choice becomes one to play around with, but in business when you have a very specific application (task), you need to match that with the most appropriate equipment available, taking into account issues like support, replacement parts and so on.

I doubt that fancy marketing impacts on any serious equipment purchasing at a corporate level. Most business will run whatever O/S is required to get the job done. Too much emphasis is placed on the O/S it is after all just the operating system, designed to interface between the equipment and the user, no more no less. Just my florin's worth :whistle:

[fringe_dweller]

well you know i'm always good for a bite David :lol:

no worries mate, it reminds me of when i worked in scotland many years ago for an englishman, and he remarked that he sometimes got the impression that some of locals didnt realise the war (between the scot's and english of course) was over some serious time ago :rofl:

I was having a flashback to the '90's mac V PC flame wars possibly?, i guess there can finally be peace bewteen the platforms? :cheers: :2thumbs:

I dont like imacs or power books very much, not that theres anything wrong with them - just like the grunty towers for me :thumbsup: (altho i like the new grunty intel chip power books, very powerful!) still kicks ass when scanning a film print at 2400 dpi, working with a 1 Gb file in layers :thumbsup:

funny but to go back to your original question with the ad, doesnt the pc guy look like a heavier, befuddled Bill Gates? and the other one is a young Steve jobs? hmmm :screwy:

[fringe_dweller]

:thumbsup: :cheers: :cheers: we are all creatures of habit i guess John :)