Apple’s advertising campaigns have a way of moving beyond the world of commercials and into popular lexicon. The 1984 ad, the Switch campaign, even the iPod silhouettes and iPhone commercials have all been widely parodied and copied. No less so the current Mac and PC spots. Not for the first time, Apple’s ads have entered the realm of the political, with the New York Times this morning asking: “Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?”
On one thing, the experts seem to agree. The differences between hillaryclinton.com and barackobama.com can be summed up this way: Barack Obama is a Mac, and Hillary Clinton is a PC.Okay, we know that politics is a bit out of our scope here, so play nice in the comments, ‘kay? That said, I find it fascinating that this shows up on the same day that a Wall Street Journal tech columnist posts a parody Mac and PC ad (pictured) that concludes with a very different sentiment:That is, Mr. Obama’s site is more harmonious, with plenty of white space and a soft blue palette. Its task bar is reminiscent of the one used at Apple’s iTunes site. It signals in myriad ways that it was designed with a younger, more tech-savvy audience in mind — using branding techniques similar to the ones that have made the iPod so popular.
“With Obama’s site, all the features and elements are seamlessly integrated, just like the experience of using a program on a Macintosh computer,” said Alice Twemlow, chairwoman of the M.F.A. program in design criticism at the School of Visual Arts (who is a Mac user).
PC: Um, where were we? Oh. We’re both just machines. We may look different, and we may do some things differently, but we’re still just machines. We can be a big part of your life, but what computer you buy doesn’t have anything to do with what kind of person you are. We’re just computers, Jace. We’re ways to get things done. It’s silly to make us into anything more than that.Wait, wait, this gives me an idea. Two guys standing in an empty white room, one in a suit and tie, the other in an open-collar shirt.Mac: Couldn’t have said it better myself, PC.
“Hello,” says one, “I’m the New York Times.” “And I’m the Wall Street Journal.”
If Obama is a Mac, maybe he'll announce Steve Jobs as his Vice President and declare that Microsoft be shut down for infecting 90% of the world's computers with an OS that equals Weapons of Mass Malware.