Is Apple Going Too Far With “Mac vs. PC?”

I saw a couple of the new Apple “Mac vs PC” TV commercials last night. Is this an ad campaign with legs or an act of desperation? This has been the most talked about TV commercial campaign for Apple since the original “1984” commercial in the Super Bowl. Good or bad? Legs or no more shelf life? As a long time Mac user I want Apple to succeed, grow market share, increase revenue and profits, and (selfishly for me) continue to produce great products. To do that, Apple needs to sell more Macs and iPods and the next great thing. Selling more requires more advertising and Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ad campaign seems to have struck a resonant chord among the non-Mac PC users. In other words, Apple is selling more Macs than ever. That’s a good thing.

In fact, Apple is selling more of everything, especially the MacBook laptops. Even better, Apple is touting, though subtly, some of the Mac’s more noteworthy and stellar features. No viruses. No spyware. No crashes and freezes. Even better still, Apple is doing so without roughing up Windows and Microsoft (not too much, anyway) but poking at the general blandness of PCs in general. The first series of TV commercials with the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” theme sparked a heated debate among those in the Mac community, and more than a few of our Windows PC-using brethren chimed in with opinions. In general, though, Apple was given high marks for distinction, subtlety, humor, and getting to the point without furthering the Mac and PC divide. As Mac sales increase, Apple is turning up the heat by providing new, fresh versions of the TV commercials. The three most recent ad I saw is “accident” and shows PC in a wheel chair and various casts, having tripped over the power cord, the “trust Mac” on PC but not Mac version, and the “Angel/Devil” ad.

The first two seemed to fit the mold of recent TV commercials successes Apple has enjoyed. The latter didn’t seem to fit anything, grasping at straws for a point. It’s unusual for Apple to throw out a lemon TV commercial and that one seemed to be the most logical candidate for an event—is Apple going too far with their TV commercial campaign? It’s possible Apple could antagonize PC viewers, thereby diminishing the switchers they truly need to grow the Mac platform. That’s my fear. Apple is going too far, trying to be too cute, and looking a bit desperate trying to convert an unappreciative, overewhelmingly PC-owning TV viewing audience. Is there a backlash on the horizon? Will the ads become a weak parody of themselves? Has Apple jumped the shark with the latest ad campaign?