Apple's latest "Behind the Mac" ad, "Test the Impossible," is another effort at manufacturing a lifestyle image, in this instance targeted at college students.
The 38-second spot depicts students in activities like photography, programming, and fashion design, in each case with a MacBook as their companion. A narrator posits that "the rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them."
Apple is presumably hoping to influence students and/or their parents in the run-up to the fall school season. The company is already running its annual Back to School promotion, and several states are offering sales tax holidays this weekend. Either could potentially save hundreds of dollars.
Though perhaps secondary to iPhone advertising, the Behind the Mac campaign has garnered some attention, for instance through a video with artists like Paul McCartney and David Bowie. One spot, "Make Something Wonderful," has been nominated for an Outstanding Commercial Emmy.