Behind-the-scenes “Laptop Hunter” ads claims participants never knew it was an ad

John Brownlee ()

Microsoft has a rather ignoble history when it comes to trying to counter Apple’s hyper-effective and popular “Get a Mac” campaign. Their first efforts were just embarrassing: a series of advertisements featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates awkwardly mumbling non sequiturs at one another. That desperate bid for hipness failed, and so Microsoft launched their Laptop Hunter ads, which were comparatively straightforward: a camera crew followed “real” computer shoppers as they looked for new machines, and documented their ultimate choice of Windows laptops. Simple, pleasant and marginally effective… even if they did repeat all of the old, stupid fallacies about Apple computers costing significantly more than similarly specced Windows machines.

Pretty soon, though, controversy hit. Lauren deLong, an adorable red ead featured in the “Laptop Hunter” ads, turned out to be an actress with a filmography of ten movies to her credit. Since Microsoft’s ads purported to be following “real computer shoppers,” that made the ads’ truthfulness somewhat dubious.

So here’s the question: were the Laptop Hunters ads what the proclaimed themselves to be, or completely fictional? The “behind-the-scenes” footage of the Laptop Hunter ads shoot, as embedded above and first posted back in September, baldly asserts that participants were not told they were in a commercial until after they had picked their machines.

I’m not buying it. Not only are the individuals in the ads just a little too pointed in their dismissal of Apple products — I think a more common response to why a PC users would reject a Mac would be “I’ve always used Windows machines!” and not “It really seems like you’re paying for the aesthetics” — but surely, a professional actress like Ms. deLong would be savvy enough recognize the financial opportunity that had just presented itself if a film crew that had followed her around all day told her she’d be in a national campaign for Microsoft. The next thing she would have said is, “I have to call my agent,” not “How’s my hair?”

What do you guys think?

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[Thanks, David!]

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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  • Ken

    Who cares? Ultimately the purchaser has to live with the purchase, and that experience–as well as the resulting word of mouth–can undo any advertising campaign.

    With Microsoft and the various hardware vendors, the relationship with the customer ends at the sale. With Apple, that’s where the relationship begins.

  • Dth202

    What they don’t tell you is even if it was authentic, they don’t give statistics to their findings; like 73% chose an Apple computer over windows (probably true). Commercials (especially for windows) has to display the only 4 good reactions out of the hundred people they followed. Hence, windows suck and Macs Rule!

  • Gabriel

    I just threw up a little….

  • Adam

    Ken –

    Couldn’t agree with you more.

  • http://www.metrokids.ca Conrad

    Microsoft is the devil. I know, it’s a little dramatic, but it’s true. I’ve had problem after problem with my Windows machines for YEARS (all while shunning both Mac and Linux). Everything from slow-downs to viruses to a reinstall of a system where the serial on the box would take and M$ wanted to charge me $50 for a new one. Terrible. Finally, after many of my friends insisted how great their Mac were I switched to a MacBook Pro.

    It’s not always perfect, there are some flaws here and there, but for the most part I am *much* happier now. And, unlike my Windows-Notebook-Wielding friends I don’t expect to plough through a new machine every 6-12 months.

    Even if it were true (which I doubt) that they didn’t know they were being shot for a commercial, they’re still stuck with the junk they bought. Even those VIAO are nothing to write home about.

    Anyhow… I’ve rambled on long enough.

  • dd

    I love their RAM comparisons. Admittedly, Mac OS X is RAM-hungry, but it is far more efficient with 2GB RAM than Windows Vista/7. So… who cares if your Windows box comes with 6GB if it needs at least 3-4 what Mac can do with 1-2?
    People are dumb.

    I still know people who would rather have a 3.xGHz Core 2 than a 2.6GHz Core i7 because “going from 3GHz to 2.6GHz is a backwards move”. Again… people are dumbâ„¢.

  • http://ihbs.co.uk Benjamin

    another thing that points out the fakeness of the advert… at the end, when people are standing in the car park with their laptops opened, and running windows.

    did they do the set up, install, charging up, in their car…?

  • Failtage

    Warning, High Failure Rate. Microsoft never cease to amaze me.

  • http://www.reelsmart.com Stephen
  • aquaadverse

    LOL. Yeah, those Mac/Pc ads are realistic. Seriously, Microsoft doesn’t care as much as Dell or HP. Microsoft views the desktop client as a platform to run and connect to it’s other products.

    They don’t make hardware. losing 10% of OEM licensing isn’t a big deal for them. Yeah, they would like it. But until Apple makes a serious run at the Server Room…

    Linux had them far more worried until the community went Ubuntu insane and blew off the Server side to fight for some desktop scraps.

    The current financial climate should have done some serious damage to Redmond. There should have been CEOs and CFOs lined up to drop a few Samba servers in.

  • Chapps

    Yeah, I just don’t care, either. Funny and creepy, if true – but not surprising. All I know is that I finally made the switch to Macs when System 10 came out and it was everything I wanted, right at the point that I had just given up on Windows (and I used to build Windows-based desktops for a living). I started cautiously with a Mac Mini and never looked back. Now I’ve got two MacBook Pros and a 24″ iMac in my house, along with an Airport, two Airport Express devices, Apple TV (ugh, well, nothing’s perfect), three iPods and two iPhones.

    I’m now just happy to have a fun, creative and stable computer. I couldn’t be happier.

    Merry Christmas. :)

  • http://twitter.com/bio_steve Steve G

    Well, if somebody follows you around with a camera in a store, you better know you’re in a commercial. Or you’re pretty dumb.

  • iGenius

    “…Apple’s hyper-effective and popular “Get a Mac” campaign.”

    Popular? Sure. But “hyper-effective”? What’s the Mac’s market share again?

  • Will

    For anyone to believe that these “common people” in front of the camera hadn’t any idea why they were being filmed and how to “act” is preposterous. But hey, thats the nature of our consumer market. Most consumers are sheep and will happily be hurded to the next product that meets their needs for a cheap upfront price. Thats why advertising is an industry. Otherwise, everyone would do their homework and arrive at an informed decision. Like the decision to own a Mac.

    Cheers, Will

  • firesign3000

    the truth is that most people walk into best buy and buy whatever laptop the blue shirts are getting told to push that week. i’ve been right next to them when they’re being thrown pound upon pound of bs by some salesperson who clearly hasn’t a clue and they just nod their heads like that have even an inkling of an idea what they’re being told. most people don’t do any research and apparently are more than willing to flush cash down a toilet. and it’s not just best buy. i’ve seen it at pretty much anywhere that sells computers, including the apple store.

  • aeyulous

    they don’t have 2 things in common. they have 4.

    happiness.
    windows.
    bsod.
    regret.

  • Kensei

    Yeah I agree who cares. Theres a place for Mac and theres a place Windows PC and ultimately I use both and have never considered the choice of one to the mutual exclusion of the other.

    I am a OS agnostic, I just use what suits my needs. Advertising doesn’t affect me that much especially here in Australia where we don’t get any of the mac vs pc or laptop hunter ads.

    I can make up my own mind. ;p

  • http://www.metrokids.ca Conrad

    @ iGenius:

    Are you kidding? Apple’s OS X installed base has grown from 3.51% globally to 5.12%, and as high as 5.5% if you include the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple’s revenue has increased by 38%, 41%, and 51% year-over-year since those ads started, and Apple has also had several “Most Profitable Quarter Ever”s since the ads began airing. Finally, Mac’s account for 90% of the computers purchased over $1000. And yes, it is because every other manufacturer is in an unsustainable race to the bottom, but meanwhile Apple has stayed the course and is now establishing themselves as a stand-out premium brand (as reinforced by Microsoft’s terrible ads).

    So yeah… fairly ineffective… ?

  • Poppa

    I believe the average computer user does not know what they want and will go for a Windows pc usually because of price and sales buff, a Mac user is an above average computer user and knows what they want.

  • iGenius

    “Are you kidding? Apple’s OS X installed base has grown from 3.51% globally to 5.12%”

    Single digit market penetration is not an indication of of hyper-success. It instead is the indication of a niche product.

    It blows me away how few machines Apple sells considering how much Apple spends on Mac advertising. It seems (don’t really know) like they spend more on TV ads than all the other desktop manufacturers put together, and yet they sell less than anyone.

  • Melman

    “…stupid fallacies about Apple computers costing significantly more than similarly specced Windows machines.”

    After 10 years of relentless pressure from my best friend I bought a 15″ MacBook Pro last summer which I love and would not trade. But don’t be deceived, Mac’s are ridiculously expensive. I could have bought 2 more highly specced Windows laptops, or 3 ordinary Windows laptops, or 4 bargain laptops, or 5 netbooks for the same price.

    Considering how I and probably 80% of people user their machines (email, web, music, & photos) I could easily get by with a netbook and an external hard drive.

    I love my Mac but the “Laptop Hunter” ads were effective because they were true.

  • Dan

    Regarding these Windows ads, I think of Freud. The guy based his theories or whatever off of pretty small samplings/example pools/whatever the correct terminology is. Which is just like this Windows ad, which may or may not have actors. I actually did some real research and comparison on laptops priced within $100 of the 15 inch Macbook Pro ($1700), and for the price and the specs I used, the Macbook Pro destroys. I compared screen size, battery life, hard drive, memory, processor, thickness and price. The HP Envy is a weak imitation. I compared 6 laptops to the Macbook Pro (this was for a class, I don’t do this for fun), and with the specs I chose to compare with, the Macbook Pro was a clear victor. People overrate some specs (video card, video memory) over some important day-to-day stuff that we care about, but isn’t a priority out shopping (battery, size/weight). The HP Envy brags about its battery life, but only if you attach some nasty battery pack to it. Come on! Laptops shouldn’t need attachments, they should just work. If you attach a battery back, you lose the weight and size battles right away. Stupid. Very stupid. It’s a laptop, not a desktop. If I didn’t care about size/weight/portability, I’d just get a desktop and call it good.

  • iGenius

    “I actually did some real research and comparison on laptops priced within $100 of the 15 inch Macbook Pro ($1700), and for the price and the specs I used, the Macbook Pro destroys.”

    Wow. That is not at all what I found. I just bought a Dell Studio 15 for $1300.00.

    It has MUCH better hardware than the Mac. Indeed, Apple does not offer high-end hardware at any price:

    It has a 1080P screen. It has an Intel I7 mobile quad-core processor. It has MyWiFi. It has a BuRay DVD drive.

    And it has stuff that Apple offers only at an even higher price:

    It has a 320G 7200 RPM hard drive – the Mac includes a smaller, 5400 RPM drive.

    The Mac is similar to the Dell in some ways:

    Both look beautiful and shiny and cool. 4 Gigs of RAM. Big Battery (however, the Mac has only a 73 Watt-hour battery, while the Dell has a 85 Wh battery), and a 256Mb medium-quality video card.

    The Mac laptops are medium-quality machines at prices that exceed high-end machines.

  • ArrowSmith

    iGenius – the Dell Studio 15 does NOT come with i7 processor. In fact none of the Dell Studio line has that. I think you might get a overheating problem with that in ANY laptop which is why we haven’t seen any yet with the i7.

  • ArrowSmith

    Correction. The HP Envy 15 comes with the i7 and for a premium price – $1800-$2300.

  • iGenius

    Arrowsmith -

    Check out the Dell Website. My studio 15 has an i7 chip.

    Apple makes nothing that performs like this in a 15 inch laptop. And mine cost $1234 plus tax.

    Here’s the basic Studio 15 i7: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndobw1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 (or you could just find it on the Dell website).

    The basic i7 15 inch Studio costs $1049. But I got a 1080p monitor (something else that Apple fails to offer and MyWiFi (yet another technology that Apple lacks) and both eSata and FireWire ports for my existing peripherals (ahem….), VGA out, a bigger battery than Apple offers (which is removable and therefore, equivalent to one of unlimited capacity), and a honking big 7200 RPM drive (extra cost on the already overpriced Apple…). Backlit keyboard. Lots of niceties.

    I have no idea why anybody would by a Macbook Pro. They are medium-quality machines at silly-high prices. You can’t even get a high-end laptop from Apple, at least not at present.

    I guess that is one reason why Macs are niche products, and never really caught on.

  • iGenius

    Arrowsmith –

    Your confusion might stem from the fact that the MOBILE i7 is new. You would have been correct to say that the DESKTOP processor would cause heat issues in a laptop.

    But don’t worry: Someday the MacBook will catch up. In the meantime, just for fun, configure a Dell with the specs of a MacbookPro. Then look at the price. And then, if you would, please tell me your thoughts.