Mac v. PC; I’m a Mac and I’m a PC… We know the commercials all too well! This successful marketing campaign by Apple has been highly effective and has strongly benefited Apple at the expense of PC makers in recent years. The video I am sharing is a music video parody of the classic Mac v. PC advertisement commercials we all know and love. Enjoy!
Genre: Parody; Advertisement; Humor; Music Video; Rap; Commercial
Audience: Most people in our commercial consumer culture know and understand the “Mac v. PC” ads; most people have seen the Apple commercials “Mac v. PC.” This video is aimed at the general consumer and more specifically people interested in technology and computers. However, this video more specifically targets people in younger age categories who enjoy rap and music videos and know about technology and computers, and the infamous “Mac v. PC” commercials. People who enjoy entertainment, humor, and advertising would also enjoy this commercial.
Purpose: This video is a professional, yet humorous, parody of “Mac v. PC” commercials. It argues the ridiculous nature of "Mac v. PC" ads in their basis of arguing I am better than you. After all, both are computers with only a small difference. Additionally, while the video provides a realistic and detailed argument explaining the difference between “Mac v. PC,” it makes fun of the “nerdy” nature of the original commercial and “spices” it up by providing rap music. This in itself is a parody because the rapping almost makes the video seem nerdier. I mean who raps about computers. This is an effective element of generating humor and interest. The video successfully takes a “cool” subject like rap and applies it to a conventionally nerdy subject like computers. The objective of this commercial is not to sell computers, as is the objective of the original “Mac v. PC” commercial (obvious, since this video was not released by Apple or PC). Rather, the purpose is to entertain and provide parody to an already successful campaign by Apple. Also, this video seems to make a statement about ad creation; you must target a younger niche audience with elements like rap. You must capture people’s emotion, something music and humor create. This rendition, is almost more successful than the original Apple “Mac v. PC” commercial, and the humor it creates focuses towards a younger generation. This ad generates interest.
Stance: This video largely argues the ridiculous nature of the "Mac v. PC" feud. In the end, both are computers with nearly the same components. The original ad argues I am better than you, which is quite juvenile and ridiculous; it is an argument over a small degree of difference. Additionally, while the video does not take a stance as to whether Mac’s or PC’s are better, it makes a statement about successful ad campaigns and the power of today’s generation of consumer’s and their interest in things such as rap and music. Today, commercials cannot be boring. This argues for the successful and necessary components of ads. You must target audiences through their interests. This video targets younger individuals, using rap and humor to connect with them. Additionally, you can take successful elements of an original idea, and transform certain elements to generate appeal among other audiences. This video shows that you can make an already successful ad campaign more successful by targeting differing and younger niche audiences, whose interests lie in rap and music videos. You can sell and provide information to almost anything or anyone with the power of music/rap and humor. This video also makes a bold statement about rap, in today’s culture. People of today’s generation love rap and will rap about most anything; rap has become a pervasive and important element of younger generations. Just as sex sells, music and specifically rap sell. Overall, this video seems to argue and point out that in today’s consumer culture, advertising must use previously successful ideas, and amend them to capture emotions of other audiences through elements such as humor and music. The video makes a statement about advertising and personal appeal. You can make almost anything a funny parody today, and it will be successful. This video argues that the first "Mac v. PC" ad was successful not only because it was interesting and humorous, but it connected with people's interests and emotions, as this video did. This video argues for the successful elements of successful ads.
Effectiveness?: This video is highly successful with over 2,900,000 YouTube views. The humor this video creates, by taking a well-known commercial and transforming it into a parody, really entertains. If a specific company produced this video, I would be more likely to buy their product because of personal appeal generated by this product commercial. The professional nature of the video aids in the success. It almost seems that this is a real commercial. Overall, this is a highly successful video because it captures emotions and interests using elements such as humor and music. Almost anything familiar and funny will be successful today. Ad exec’s should really pay attention to elements of this video.
Jeremy J. Petersen
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Pathos: Mac v. PC is built on a humorous rap; it truly arouses humor in the viewer. Humor is created at the beginning by free flowing rhymes comparing Mac’s and PC’s. “I’m a right clicka, I’m an iBook flippa” is an example of humor. It is humorous because most people do not envision a rap video about computers; computers are perceived to be kind of “nerdy” while rap is “cool,” so when you combine the two it creates humorous emotion. Also, when you use familiar language or knowledge, and manipulate it to read, “I’m a right clicka, I’m an iBook flippa” this creates humor. Additionally, when the two men representing Mac and PC are introduced the Mac is “preppy” with his suit coat and scarf and the PC is a nerd in a suit. They proceed to rap and match their body actions, like a rapper, to the beat of the music. This is very effective at creating humor. The rhymes flow extremely well, almost too well for the subject matter. Someone really worked hard to create a rap based around the unconventional subject of computers. The “goofy” nature of the characters and their garb works to resonate humor. The rap lyrics and music, combined with the “goofy, nerdy, and preppy” actions creates a contradiction that elicits humor. Additionally, by using hard data, such as USB 1-2.0 or “surf safari or browse in I.E. provides credibility, but at the same time creates humor through creating an argument based around a “silly” rap video, it becomes obvious this video is aimed at arousing emotions of parody among viewers. Who would come up with the statement “I’m a right clicka…I’m an iBook flippa.” This is a totally credible statement, yet it is humorous because of the rhyming. The video entertains by making a familiar subject elicit emotions of humor. Additionally, through these means the video wants viewers to believe that Apple’s original Mac v. PC ads are biased. They do not provide information to accurately compare the two types of computers; instead they generate an appeal to promote the “Apple lifestyle.” Through this parody, the creators presented more credible data than the original Mac v. PC ads it is critiquing and this creates a statement.
ReplyDeleteEthos: This video is distributed by Pantless Knights Productions, a production firm known for releasing humorous parody’s of commercials, so this provides credibility to their attempt to create a humorous parody out of the Mac v. PC ads that Apple pioneered. In addition, the editing quality is very professional. The editing and acting is of utmost quality. This video seems like it could be a successful ad. It generates emotional appeal through humor and presents information to sell products to consumers. Yet, this is a statement about Apple’s original Mac v. PC ads and the relation to Apple’s famous Mac v. PC ads creates credibility in this video. The video was obviously released by a large studio that aims to create professional parody videos. This video uses hard data, such as “well I’ve only been around since ’84 but my ease of use has done so much more” to mold an argument around the Mac v. PC argument. Because the original Mac v. PC add released by Apple does not provide as much hard data to aid its argument, this video seems more credible in arguing Mac’s are better than PC’s, because it provides in depth data to support the argument. Whereas, the original Mac v. PC ad released by Apple promotes the “Apple lifestyle” and presents little data or features that make Macs better, this video provides data for both PC’s and Mac’s. This video forms an argument more of an argument and in this argument it is mocking Apple Mac v. PC ads for not developing an argument as to why their product is superior but still promoting their product as best. This video generates a more credible argument than the video it is critiquing. By creating credibility this video is effective at making a statement about Apple and its Mac v. PC ad. This video offers proper documentation to the subject matter, whereas the original Mac v. PC ad does not. This creates a statement about Apple’s ad campaigns.
Logos: It is obvious the video is a spoof off of Apple’s highly successful Mac v. PC ad campaign. We can gather this from the first scene where the two characters are next to each other in a white screen. This is the premise of the original. Additionally, throughout the video jabs are made against the Apple Mac v. PC commercial. This deliberate mockery persists throughout the video. The video uses the subject matter Mac v. PC, from the highly successful Apple ad campaign, but improves the original ad by creating humor to make the statement that Apple’s ads aim to advertise a “lifestyle” of sort, and they do not present efficient or accurate information to show their product is actually better. This video makes a logical argument pertaining to Apple’s ad campaign. The video creates a parody ad through using hard data to create a rap, which develops humor to compare Mac’s v. PC’s and generate logical appeal. The logical appeal generated in the article is that Apple’s original Mac v. PC ads promote a “lifestyle” instead of actually showing why their computer is better by using facts. Hard data, such as “surf safari or browse in I.E.” is used to form the rap to provide credibility. Humor is created in the video by the fact that the rap seems incredibly overstretched and the characters are “goofy,” in comparison to the original Apple Mac v. PC as. “I’m a right clicka…I’m an iBook flippa” is extremely humorous to people who know about computers, and statements like this help create truthful humor. Compared to the original Mac v. PC ads, which this video is parodying, this video provides more hard data than Apple’s ads, which were more aimed at promoting an image. By providing more information to the argument, than the original Mac v. PC ad developed by Apple, this video appears more credible. Yet, by combining this data, that creates credibility, with humor it creates a parody and logical appeal towards the ridiculous nature of the Apple Mac v. PC ad campaign. The video is making the statement that Apple is trying to sell computers by saying their computers are better in their Mac v. PC ads, but yet they provide little or no information or hard data as to why their computers are actually better. By this video providing information for both PC’s and Mac’s, the argument is less biased than Apple’s own Mac v. PC commercials. This provides credibility to the video. Yet by creating humor through credibility a paradoxes statement is made. Logical appeal is created through credibility and humor in this video; and this is used to make a statement about Apple’s Mac v. PC ad campaign.