BIll Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Viewers struggled to fathom what the two men's oblique and unfunny
discussion had to do with computers
Posted on 09/22/2008 6:38:59 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
A baffling Microsoft advert featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates discussing shoes before the software billionaire shakes his behind as he walks across a car park has disappeared from the air after critics described it as "awful" and a "train wreck".
BIll Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Viewers struggled to fathom what the two men's oblique and unfunny
discussion had to do with computers
The 90-second spot, one of three adverts for which Seinfeld was paid a reported $10 million, was designed to kick off an ambitious $300 million campaign to relaunch the software company and its troubled Windows Vista operating system.
But two weeks after debuting, the three commercials were withdrawn in favour of other adverts in which Seinfeld, whose eponymous hit sitcom ended a decade ago, is replaced by such stars as the actress Eva Longoria and singer Pharrell Williams.
The first advert featuring Gates and Seinfeld was met by a collective scratching of heads as viewers struggled to fathom what the two men's oblique and unfunny discussion had to do with computers.
The pair are seen in a discount shoe shop talking about what size shoe the world's richest man takes and whether he ever wears clothes in the shower. The comic then if asks Gates can give him a "signal" and "adjust your shorts" if he is working on something "that will make our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can eat them while we are working". Gates responds by wiggling his bottom.
A blogger for Computer World wrote: "It's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history", while Sam Diaz on zdnet.com commented: "The commercials were a train wreck from the beginning and only reinforced the idea that Microsoft is so far disconnected from regular consumers
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sienfeld’s ‘’humor’’ is as bad as Bret Farr’s playing ability tonight
Maybe they should have spent the $300 mill on writing some new workable code. Lean, fast, non crashable code. Real software, not crapware or BSOD baloneyware
Tonight’s “I Am PC” commercial sucks even more. Makes no sense except to make we want a MAC.
MS should put them right back on the air.
NEVER let idiots in the tech media get an inch. They hate Microsoft and would have been critical of whatever ad they put on TV.
“Maybe they should have spent the $300 mill on writing some new workable code. Lean, fast, non crashable code. Real software, not crapware or BSOD baloneyware”
Really? Could you fit more BS in a post trying to come across as knowledgeable?
Seinfeld is worth $600 million. Gates is worth $80 billion. What on EARTH can either of these I’ve Got Mine weenies say to the rest of us that we’d give a crap about?
IIRC, when they approached The Rolling Stones about using "Start Me Up" for their ad campaign, The Stones just arbitrarily said $13 million.
"Done."
So how much do you want to do three ads that will add up to one segment of one episode of "Seinfeld?"
"How about ten million dollars? It's a nice round number. And I won't have to keep cashing all these small Japanese checks?"< /seinfeld impersonation>
"Done."
“Tonight’s “I Am PC” commercial sucks even more. Makes no sense except to make we want a MAC.”
That’s exactly what I’m talking about!
No matter what they put out, there was going to be a segment of the population that was just going to launch into it.
I mean seriously, what rational person would look at an ad of people that use PC, stating as much, and come away with:
“Gee, I’m going to buy a Mac because that sucks”
Amen!
Seinfeld is a double agent working for Apple. he proves what Apple fans said all this time: that pc users are dorks
GATES: Shoes go on your feet.
SEINFELD: They sure do.
I must be in a minority. I sorted of liked the commercials. They are not great “Super Bowl” type commercials but they were OK.
It did stink. I never got the connection except here were two very rich men shopping discount. HA HA not
Gee, wonder why? ;-) You would think that a computer genius and, well, the other guy, would have dumped these commercials from the get go. Who knew. Mayhap Gates is starting to suffer from early onset Alzheimer’s?
“Maybe they should have spent the $300 mill on writing some new workable code. Lean, fast, non crashable code. Real software, not crapware or BSOD baloneyware”
If they took all the bugs out of Microsoft products a lot of us “techies” would be out of work.
I use Vista on both of my machines and do not want to go back to XP.
“Seinfeld is worth $600 million. Gates is worth $80 billion. What on EARTH can either of these I’ve Got Mine weenies say to the rest of us that we’d give a crap about?”
LOL Seinfeld made his bucks making people laugh. Lots of people cared about what he had to say.
Gates of course made his BILLIONS off putting a computer on nearly every business desk and home in modern countries.
Commercials do suck tho.
If a commercial can be seen as the public image of a product, these commercials say absolutely awful things about Microsoft.
Those commercials Apple makes with the slightly chubby guy in glasses as a PC and a supposedly hip kid as a Mac were bad enough. I thought the Mac kid was a weasel and didn't strike me as hip or cool the way t.v. critics asserted, but the Microsoft commercials make the dumb Apple commercials look decent in comparison.
I liked the new one where they have all kinds of people from all over the world say “I am PC”. Macs can only put grungy rebels up.
That’s true, but I must agree with the anti-MSFT idiots on this one: The commercial is terrible. I’ve seen it several times now and it still makes me go, “HUH????”
MM
I was amazed these commercials ever got made in the first place.
Imagine the pitch:
Ad Agency Guy: “OK, Bill. Here’s the thing. Windows isn’t hip any more. It isn’t new, it isn’t WOW, it isn’t fresh. We need to bring the PC and Windows into the 21st century, man.”
Bill Gates: “Well, gee. OK, what do you suggest that would make us happening and stuff?”
Ad Agency Guy: “We need a hip, new spokesman. Those MAC folks got the Mr. MAC and Mr. PC... it’s hip it’s WOW, it’s now, baby.”
Bill Gates: “OK, then who would be a hip new spokesman for us?”
Ad Agency Guy: “I got just the guy. He’s way up there, ya know. All the kids love him.”
Bill Gates: “Yeah? Well, who?”
Ad Agency Guy: “Ready?”
Bill Gates: “Yeah, tell me already.”
Ad Agency Guy: “OK, picture this.... JERRY SEINFELD!”
Bill Gates: “Hey, I love that Seinfeld show of his... but didn’t that go off the air in the 90’s? How is he hip and fresh?”
Ad Agency Guy: “Did it? No, he is definitely a hip guy. Come on! Remember Kramer? Hilarious stuff.”
Bill Gates: “Um, didn’t that Kramer guy get in some scrape where he was calling Jews names?”
Ad Agency Guy: “Fageddabout Kramer. We’ve got SEINFELD!”
Bill Gates: “Well, OK. If you’re sure he’s hip?”
Ad Agency Guy: “Oh, yeah. Waaaaay hip. Count on it.”
Dork = non geek?
I use Vista because I started on Win 3.1, spent years teaching myself Win 98. Vista works pretty neat. Suits my purposes fine.
I know one Mac user. Nothing but problems and no one can help him.
yitbos
I thought it was a really funny ad campaign... referencing Gates with his home hovering over Seattle like another moon and Seinfeld owning so many cars he had his own traffic jam. My whole family giggled and gawked upon seeing them in some suburban family home raiding the fridge for grey poupon and cheese, vying with the teen over what was her room before their arrival.
Maybe they just pulled it to keep it fresh and pseudopoignant (if Seinfeld ever could be poignant!)
Actually I enjoyed the advert.
It was refreshing to see Gates in a context other than the "world's richest man."
Methinks that the intended message was just waaaaay too subtle for the MAC crowd.
Not enough tats and piercings, I suppose...
“What on EARTH can either of these I’ve Got Mine weenies say to the rest of us that we’d give a crap about?”
Rosebud.
I'd be interested in learning about business and finance from one, comedy and sitcom writing from the other.
What the hell planet are you on?
You’re right, I wish you continued well paying employment and job security.
Using XP Pro right now. Should I switch to 64 bit version? I want more ram.
Or as bad as your spelling.
Bret Farr = Brett Favre.
Have any software of peripherals older than two years?
Really? Could you fit more BS in a post trying to come across as knowledgeable?Microsoft is hamstrung because they're forced into keeping tons of old legacy code around. They have a good OS (singularity) that they can't roll out because its not compatible with the current stuff. A shame really.
Vista is a POS though.
I thought the commercial was funny as Hell.
I have several games that I have installed that are not very new. Battlefield 2 came out in 2005 and Tiger Woods golf in 2007 to name a couple. I also have a couple of programs that I use to make newsletters for my classroom that are a few years old too. I do realize that some programs are not compatible but running them in XP Compatibility Mode usually fixes the problem.
You know, Jerry has millions of dollars. He could go to Bosley Hair Restoration and they could make his hair look as full as it used to be. It would cost him hardly anything, relatively speaking.
Hell, they might do it for free if he did an ad for them.
hey I have an idea... get rid of Vista !!
It makes me wonder:
Is Bill Gates investing heavily in Apple and Unix? He knows these ads suck and will drive people to buy other software and PCs.
Good! The ads were horrible! Trying to bring back the whole Seinfeld humor was just weak.
I do not understand the Gates/Seinfeld commercials, but I imagine they are part of a clever capaign, and I was interested to see what they led to.
Those were ads?
I thought they were interrogation videos for Al Qaeda detainees.
“Macs can only put grungy rebels up.”
And Rush Limbaugh.
Why not have commercials that describe a product's actual attributes? "This car gets 50 mpg, does 120 mph and lasts 300,000 miles". "That candidate will bankrupt the economy".
““Macs can only put grungy rebels up.”
And Rush Limbaugh.”
Ahh so you deny that Apple uses an image of a grungy looking rebel to represent their main product under discussion. There’s honesty for ya.
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