Microsoft Seinfeld Ad Not Exactly a Hit

The first of Justin Long Mac commercials, has been met with an overwhelming amount of criticism.

While I'm sure there are some out there who enjoyed the commercial, it's almost as if it were met with a collective thumbs down from reporters and bloggers 'netwide. Before I go any further, take a minute to view the clip yourself if you haven't yet. Ok, it's closer to a minute and a half, which doesn't help its cause either, but here you go.

For one, it's hard to tell what Microsoft is even trying to push with this ad. For two, it's just not funny. This is only opinion of course, but as I said, it's a very popular one. It's not a matter of just not being into Seinfeld's brand of humor. I (as I'm sure a great many other critics are) am a big fan of the show Seinfeld. It's a matter of just plain annoying advertising.

I am the type of person who is very easily annoyed with commercials when they are played frequently (this is especially a problem for me as football season gets underway), and the thought of having to sit through this as often as the Mac commercials does not bring a smile to my face. That's really the least funny part about the ad. Granted, I'm sure the ad will be trimmed from its minute-and-a-half form for regular television airplay, but that doesn't really change a whole lot.

This isn't just a rant about why I don't like this commercial. The news here is that Microsoft has spent a ton of money (about $300 million) on this new advertising campaign, and nobody seems to like it. Here are some examples:

"Seinfeld's first commercial starring Bill Gates is out -- shot in a mall shoe store -- and it's not going to help Microsoft look any cooler," attempt at humor is a nice change, though," Jackson West at Valleywag writes, "The whole production says 'quirky,' not slick or cool, but then Windows Vista is full of maddening quirks."

Gizmodo's
You get the idea. Some people haven't given up on the campaign entirely. This is only the first ad in a series that will likely feature other celebrities. Maybe they will get better. For the record, I find the Mac commercials annoying too.