Microsoft's latest video mocking Apple and its new iPhones is part of a long tradition of corny commercials. September 13, 2013 3:24 PM PDT (Credit: Microsoft) Look, not everyone has the film sensibility of a Steven Spielberg. Case in point: Microsoft, which has an inadvertent flair for turning out corny videos, decade after decade. The latest example came on Friday with Microsoft first posting and then pulling and apologizing for a series of online video ads mocking Apple's newest iPhones due to the widespread ridicule they invited. The list is long and the competition's fierce, but here's a selection of some of the more cringe-worthy moments courtesy of Messrs. Gates and Ballmer. The first is the now-infamous "fly on the wall in Cupertino" video supposedly depicting a product get-together at Apple headquarters. Kitsch, here we come. Here's a 2012 Microsoft ad titled "Beware the Googlighting Stranger." A goofy salesman comes across as a transparent phony as he attempts to pitch a prospective client to move her company's apps over to Google's productivity suite. Here's a 2009 ad for Songsmith, Microsoft's GarageBand competitor. The scenario revolves around a father who's flummoxed trying to compose a jingle when he comes across his daughter using Songsmith. One of the commenters on the video wrote "Stunningly stupid. Everyone in this video should be captured and shot." Enough said. Windows 7: This just might be the worst commercial Microsoft ever. It's like being forced to watch Antonioni's over and over until your head explodes. What could be more fun than an advertisement for Internet Explorer where one of the actors pukes all over her husband? Yuks abound. Film buffs will note that Bobcat Goldthwait, who played `Zed' in Police Academy 2,3 and 4, directed the spot. Goodbye DOS, helloooo Windows 95. Rumor has it that interrogators at Guantanamo were ready to use this video but were warned it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. A 1980s spot for Windows 386. A "Mission Impossible" theme, taking a poke at OS/2 as well as mainframe processing. Most memorable moment: The spot includes someone who's a dead ringer for the receptionist from GhostBusters. Otherwise, grit your teeth.
Microsoft's latest video mocking Apple and its new iPhones is part of a long tradition of corny commercials.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Look, not everyone has the film sensibility of a Steven Spielberg. Case in point: Microsoft, which has an inadvertent flair for turning out corny videos, decade after decade. The latest example came on Friday with Microsoft first posting and then pulling and apologizing for a series of online video ads mocking Apple's newest iPhones due to the widespread ridicule they invited.
The list is long and the competition's fierce, but here's a selection of some of the more cringe-worthy moments courtesy of Messrs. Gates and Ballmer. The first is the now-infamous "fly on the wall in Cupertino" video supposedly depicting a product get-together at Apple headquarters. Kitsch, here we come.
Here's a 2012 Microsoft ad titled "Beware the Googlighting Stranger." A goofy salesman comes across as a transparent phony as he attempts to pitch a prospective client to move her company's apps over to Google's productivity suite.
Here's a 2009 ad for Songsmith, Microsoft's GarageBand competitor. The scenario revolves around a father who's flummoxed trying to compose a jingle when he comes across his daughter using Songsmith. One of the commenters on the video wrote "Stunningly stupid. Everyone in this video should be captured and shot." Enough said.
Windows 7: This just might be the worst commercial Microsoft ever. It's like being forced to watch Antonioni's over and over until your head explodes.
What could be more fun than an advertisement for Internet Explorer where one of the actors pukes all over her husband? Yuks abound. Film buffs will note that Bobcat Goldthwait, who played `Zed' in Police Academy 2,3 and 4, directed the spot.
Goodbye DOS, helloooo Windows 95. Rumor has it that interrogators at Guantanamo were ready to use this video but were warned it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
A 1980s spot for Windows 386. A "Mission Impossible" theme, taking a poke at OS/2 as well as mainframe processing. Most memorable moment: The spot includes someone who's a dead ringer for the receptionist from GhostBusters. Otherwise, grit your teeth.
