One of the most memorable ads I’ve ever come across in the tech space is definitely Apple‘s “I’m a Mac” series. Starring Justin Long as the personification of a Mac, the ads talked about the strengths of Macs versus PCs—and something like 66 different versions of the same ad were released over a number of years.
Thankfully, a user on YouTube (Angus Lo) compiled the complete collection for your viewing pleasure. It’s over 38 minutes in length, so you might want to watch this on 0.75x playback speed:
It’s been a couple of years now, and Apple has since moved on from Long and that particular brand of advertisement. Nowadays, we have stuff like the Shot on iPhone series, and it’s been awhile since we’ve seen Apple take pot shots at competitors in the computing or mobile space.
However, Intel has just released a series of new ads that take aim at Apple’s M1-powered Macs. The kicker? The videos star Justin Long, who is no longer “a Mac”. Instead, Long is now simply “Justin”, “just a real person”. Five videos have been released in total, all of which are part of the series: Justin Gets Real. And yes, we have all of the videos here for you to enjoy:
Long (or rather, Intel) takes aim at the M1 MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, along with the Mac platform’s purported lack of choice, or gaming capabilities. The videos are supposedly “real comparisons” done by a “real person”, although it’s pretty clear that there will always be a certain amount of bias in an ad, of course.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Intel taking aim at Apple, either. The “Go PC” ads were also launched recently, where the company said stuff like “if you can power a rocket launch and launch Rocket League, you’re not on a Mac. Go PC”. It’s all a little petty, and it’s indicative of the increased competition that the M1 chips offer in the computing market.
But this isn’t simply about the PC versus Mac competition. Previous MacBooks utilised Intel chips under the hood, and now that the Silicon chips look to be the way forward for Apple, Intel stands to lose a sizeable chunk of its business from one of its biggest customers.
But are the new ads a little too…. spiteful? Over the top? Or fair game?
[ VIA ]
Related reading