I consider myself a pretty witty person, so I'm naturally inclined to appreciate a good witty advertisement. My favorite thus far seems to be Apple's overly popular "Mac vs. PC" ads. Though they have since been canceled, the seemingly simple witty dialogue seemed to always poke fun at PCs in all of the right places. For instance, the ad I'll include at the bottom of this post highlights one of PCs major disappointments among consumers -- its operating system. Although Windows 7 has been released since the airing of this commercial, the overall consensus in the computing world is that Macs are more secure and reliable than PCs. By pointing out this majorly important flaw in PCs through humor, Apple effectively persuades users to purchase their products. This is mostly effective because humor is easily memorable and is highly persuasive when it is indeed a factual statement.
When considering this particular ad, the appeal that seems to be most prominent is security. Though it isn't security in the traditional sense, it does focus on the security of one's information that could be potentially stored in a computer. People are always concerned about their safety in most aspects of their lives. This may be because of the media constantly bombarding us with the latest crimes in our area. The media instills a sense of paranoia that advertisers exploit in order to sell their products. With regards to PCs, computer viruses and variations of spyware were extremely important topics in the computing world for at least five years. Even people who weren't necessarily computer savvy, always asked about security programs when considering purchasing a new computer. By exploiting this concern satirically, Apple was able to translate an important issue into something that the average American consumer could understand.
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