Post-purpose — Apple ’switch’ ad, parodies, and then an official parody
A couple of years ago Apple ran a highly visible, entertaining, and widely parodied series of advertisements, directed by Errol Morris, featuring the experiences of people who had switched from using Windows PCs to Macs. Some of the ads were quite funny, such as the ads featuring Ellen Feiss, a teenage student (rumored to be) under the influence of mind-altering allergy medication as she described what a bummer it was that her PC had eaten “a really good paper”.
Creative geeks immediately created many parodies of the ads and posted them to the net, some of the parodies were very funny. Parodies made fun of the content, or made fun of Apple Computer, but the main target quickly became the form of the ads.
Here’s the part I find most amusing. Rather than let net users have all the fun, Apple made parodies of its own ad campaign (link goes to a google search, I don’t know if these ads are available on any official site), starring Will Ferrell. The first ad surfaced at an Apple convention, and later the ads were available for viewing on Apple’s website. What I find most amusing about these ad parodies is that even though they were made by Apple, they really don’t contain any persuasive content but instead simply have fun playing within the format of the Switch ads.
