It's been 15 years since Apple's last award-winning “I'm a Mac” ad, but rival companies still think it's smart to use a Mac actor to sell rival products.
After Huawei and Intel, Qualcomm has become the latest company to try, with an incredibly provocative ad in which a Mac guy, played by Justin Long, decides it's time to get a PC…
The “I'm a Mac” Ad PC”
Apple's original series of commercials featuring Justin Long playing a Mac while John Hodgman plays a PC. It was one of the company's most popular and successful ad campaigns.
The team behind the campaign recalled it in 2016, describing it as the end result of “an agonizing seven-month quest to find an idea Steve Jobs didn't hate.”
Long played a relaxed, nice guy surprised by the complexities and confusion of the PC. Apple aired 66 commercials in total, although Long revealed in 2019 that about 300 were actually made. The rest, he said, were rejected by Steve Jobs because they were too funny and he felt it would distract viewers from messages.
In 2017, Huawei used Long to play himself, offering the Mate 9 smartphone to create an ad, and four years later, Intel made the ill-advised decision to use him to poke fun at M1 Macs.
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Qualcomm uses Long to promote Snapdragon-based PCs
Top Comment by NasDurden
Probably should have just Googled the “Do Not Disturb” button before going all in and paying the $2,000 cut.
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Perhaps the most disturbing example of all: Qualcomm hired Long to promote its new Snapdragon chip in ARM-based PCs.
Long plays a Mac user who is fed up with all the notifications. that he receives on the Mac (a strange mixture of notifications and error messages) and he is looking for an ARM-based PC to replace it. The commercial was shown during Qualcomm's two-hour keynote about the new PC chip – the video below is linked to the beginning of the ad.
that Long shrugs and asks the viewer, “What? Everything changes.”
Qualcomm, as you may recall, was involved in a bitter lawsuit with Apple over the company's spending on modem chips. Apple has been working for years to develop its own replacements, but has yet to achieve success with its deal with Qualcomm extended until 2027. The problem may be less technical than legal, as Apple seeks to circumvent Qualcomm's patents.
