-=PCTechTalk=- (Fwd) * tech-alerts* Ad Campaign Leaves Pie on Microsoft's Fac
- From: "Grant Karpik" <gkarpik@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 01:03:49 -0700
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From: "The New York Times Direct" <NYTDirect@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: "The New York Times Direct" <NYTDirect@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 15:24:51 -0500
Subject: Circuits: A New Microsoft Blunder
<http://www.nytimes.com>
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Ad Campaign Leaves Pie on Microsoft's Face
People accuse Microsoft of devious tactics all the time. Microsoft
generally denies the accusations - after all, they're flanked by the
best lawyers that money can buy.
This week, though, Microsoft gave itself a big, goopy pie in the face.
On Oct. 9, the company posted a testimonial on its Web site called
"Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert." It was a first-person account by
a
"freelance writer" about how she had fallen in love with Windows XP.
She
compared the operating system to a Lexus. "I was up and running in less
than one day, Girl Scout's honor," burbled the attractive, 20-something
brunette in the photo.
There was only one problem: She doesn't exist.
A with-it member of Slashdot.org, the popular hangout for articulate
nerds, happened to notice that the woman's picture actually came from
GettyImages.com, a stock-photo agency. Associated Press reporter Ted
Bridis took it from there. He tracked authorship of the article to one
Valerie Mallinson, a public-relations woman hired by Microsoft to write
the story. Microsoft was caught red-handed.
I was dying to find out how this public-relations fiasco came to pass,
but Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla would speak only in Officialese. "The
article was mistakenly posted to the Microsoft Web Site," is all he
would tell me. "Once we realized that it wasn't part of the Windows XP
marketing activities, we pulled it. It's an unfortunate situation, and
we take responsibility."
No wonder Microsoft has become a laughingstock online. "Once we
realized
. . . ?" Hello? Exactly how disconnected are the right and left hands
of
Microsoft's marketing organization?
And then there's the feebleness of the ad itself. Not only is it a
childish attempt to mimic Apple's "Switch" campaign, but Microsoft's
bogus customer is hopelessly misinformed. "AppleWorks pales in
comparison to Microsoft Office XP. There's no equivalent for the
versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint," she writes,
evidently never having heard of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
for
Macintosh.
Then she makes it worse: "Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than
Netscape Navigator ever did. . . . I can name and organize my Favorites
any way I want." First of all, Internet Explorer is on the Mac, too.
Second, had Ms. Fictitious ever, in fact, used Netscape Navigator, she
might have realized that it, too, permits naming and organizing
bookmarks.
To be sure, the online community is wasting no time in rubbing these
gaffes in Microsoft's face. But nobody's mentioning the most disturbing
part of all this: That it's part of a longer string of fraudulent
Microsoft marketing efforts.
In 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that Microsoft, during its
antitrust trials, hired PR companies to flood newspapers with fake
letters of support, bearing ordinary individuals' names but actually
written by Microsoft PR staff. Payments were funneled through
Microsoft's PR company so that the checks couldn't be traced.
Later, during the antitrust trials, Microsoft attempted to prove the
inseparability of Windows and Internet Explorer by showing the judge a
video. There was only one problem: The government's lawyer noticed that
as the tape rolled on, the number of icons on the desktop kept
changing.
Microsoft sheepishly admitted to having spliced together footage from
different computers to make its point.
And now a phony testimonial illustrated by a photo bought from a
stock-art agency.
What does all of this say about a company's corporate psyche that it
feels the need to fabricate evidence of the public's love?
Maybe Microsoft is jealous of the genuine affection Mac fans seem to
exhibit for their machines. Or could it be that the company somehow
feels rejected by the quirky (and as far as anyone can tell, real)
people in Apple's "Switch" ads.
But more likely, Microsoft's latest blunder demonstrates neither
jealousy nor wounded pride - it's pure arrogance. The company thinks it
can get away with anything. This time, at least, it's wrong.
A screen shot of the original Microsoft ad can be viewed at:
http://www.scripting.com/misc/msSwitchAd/lies.jpg.
Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com
<http://www.davidpogue.com> .
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
<http://www.nytimes.com/info/help/copyright.html>
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...a cat is a diagram and a pattern of subtle air...
Grant Karpik
gkarpik@xxxxxxxxx
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