Friday, May 21, 2010, 03:20 pm
Apple removes 'Get a Mac' ads from site, finalizing end of campaign
Apple has ended its long-running and highly successful "Get a Mac" ad campaign, and this week the company finally pulled the series of commercials from its website.Actor Justin Long first revealed in April that the ads, which began with his trademark "Hello, I'm a Mac" tagline, were finished. Long's "Mac" character was the straight man in the routine, flanked by comedian John Hodgman's portrayal of the bumbling "PC" character.
"It was so much fun to go do that job, because there's not a lot to it for me," Long told The Onion's A.V. Club last month. "A lot of it is just keeping myself entertained between takes, and there's no one I'd rather do it with than John (Hodgman)."
On Friday, MacRumors first discovered that Apple had removed the "Get a Mac" commercials from its website. The last three ads were released in October 2009 to counteract Microsoft's release of Windows 7.
Apple replaced the ads with a new campaign, with the theme "Why you'll love a Mac," featured at apple.com/why-mac/. The site touts buying a Mac as making the "ultimate upgrade."
The successful "Get a Mac" campaign, which began with six commercials in May 2006, portrayed Windows PCs as machines that are prone to issues that frustrate consumers, and lack the simplicity and ease of use of the Mac. Many of the commercials attacked Windows for being susceptible to viruses and system crashes.
The commercials proved to be extremely successful, and aired during a period of tremendous growth for the Mac platform. Last year, Adweek named the "Get a Mac" campaign the best ad campaign of the decade.
Last year, Microsoft stepped up its own advertising campaign and made an effort to reclaim the "I'm a PC" tagline from Apple. Television spots for Windows 7 have featured customers taking credit for the improvements in the new operating system, with the slogan "I'm a PC, and Windows 7 was my idea."
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Apple believes they have proved themselves in the computer market and has enough momentum to focus on the iProducts this year. Google is much more hostile and active in the current budding markets and Apple has shifted their focus to meet that threat accordingly. Microsoft doesn't have much new to interest Apple except perhaps Natal, which doesn't really affect any of Apple's current markets. Apple is always very focused, and I think this is just a sort of calm before the inevitable storm of product introductions (not that we didn't just get through a veritable storm of them).
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I enjoyed this campaign. Apple got good mileage out of it.
Farewell Justin and John...