“I’m a Mac. I’m a PC.” Now It’s “I’m a Sony Vaio?”

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Sure it is. Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads are the hit of the year.

Imitators? Here they come, parodies or not. What happens when an imitation of something cool and elegant turns out to be gross and juvenile. Check out Sony’s new Vaio ad.

You remember Sony? They’re the company that brought the Sony Walkman to humankind. The Sony Trinitron TV, too. And, the Sony Vaio.

Arguably, Sony’s version of a PC is one that often gets it right. Small, attractive, loaded with features, and price competitive.

Can you imagine the conversations Sony marketing people have when they view and review Apple’s great “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” TV commercials?

“How can we be cool like Apple?” Or, something like, “Why can’t we be a non-PC PC, like Apple’s Mac?”

That’s it. Sony did it. They came up with the perfect slogan to differentiate the Vaio from run-of-the-mill PCs, and the Mac.

Introducing, the Sony Vaio Notebooks. The non-PC, PC. Sony’s new Vaio C series comes in multiple colors; sort of a breeding device for the iPod nano, but with a keyboard.

To make sure you know the Sony Vaio C Series is cool, Sony’s advertising resorts to an old gimic—they tell you:

Remarkably, I just don’t remember reading advertising copy like that about the Mac or the iPod or anything with an Apple logo on it.

To be fair, the Sony advertisement is for Sony’s Vaios which are sold in Australia, so perhaps what’s considered cool in Oz is different than cool from LA to NY in the US of A.

Even more striking in Sony’s attempt at cool copy is the Vaio maker’s take on the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” TV commercial. The Sony online page which highlights the Vaio C Series notebook has a Flash advertisement. Here comes the flattery. Buckets of flattery.

And buckets of humor that may play in Australia, but seems overly crude in Peoria.

The small Flash ad displays a John Hodgman lookalike as the PC guy, and a Justin Long lookalike as the Mac guy.

There’s also a cute little teenage girl in boots, striped stockings, and other colorful OZware, who proclaims her Vaio coolness with a giggly, flirtatious, “I’m a VAIO.”

I’m serious. But wait. It gets worse.

In the Flash ad there’s a small hand with a set of pinching fingers—thumb and forefinger—which can be moved over the images on the ad. Whoops. You’re way ahead of me. Move the hand over each person and they turn around, back and butt facing you and pinchng fingers.

Pinch the girl and she giggles. Pinch the “Mac guy” and he yells “Hey!.” What happens when you pinch the “PC guy?” He farts.

I’m serious. He farts. Passed gas. Cut the cheese. Somehow I don’t expect to see this on a TV commercial in the US. Well, maybe on The Simpsons.

The rest of the online advertisement is rather innocuous and sterile, but in that colorfully cool way that Sony tries to be these days.

Just in case the uber cool Sony Vaio ad goes away, we’ve preserved the ultra uber cool Sony Flash event for posterior, uh, um… posterity.

Click Here for a full browser screen view and pinch until you laugh yourself to sleep.