Get A Mac Ads Not As Popular Overseas
Everyone in the states is familiar with the funny ad campaign Apple calls ‘Get A Mac’. These are the ads featuring a young, hip, guy (played by Justin Long) as the Mac, and a drab, overweight, dorky guy (played by John Hodgeman) as the PC. You’ve seen them. They all open with “I’m a Mac” “And I’m a PC” and feature amusing vignettes highlighting the differences between Macs and PCs. My personal favorite is the new “Security” video about the clunky security features found in Windows Vista (key tag line in the blogosphere: “You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?”). Don’t worry, if you’ve been under a rock for the last few months you can see the entire series on their web site here.
What has been a phenomenal success in America has not translated well in the market across the pond, however. People in other countries just aren’t responding as well to the ad campaign as a whole. The ads are geared toward American cultural mores and just don’t translate well in some cases. For example, in Japan humility is key. You don’t see ads in Japan comparing two products directly the way we do here – it is considered rude and arrogant. So in Japan the commercials are adversely affecting sales. In the United Kingdom the ads are having a negative effect on sales for a somewhat different reason. People are beginng to perceive the PC as lovable junk and the Mac as a smug twit – not good!
Another thing hurting the ads is wardrobe and actual translation. The language issue is minor compared to the wardrobe one, though. Americans are one of the few countries to have the movement toward casual wear in the office environment. In other countries what translates as hip and urban chic here comes across as sloppy and cheap. This isn’t helping Apple’s image overseas at all. So what should Apple do? The easy solution would be to start a new ad campaign overseas geared toward repairing the damage to its reputation. Apple has not commented yet on how it plans to address the issue.
Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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