Though I thought Microsoft’s ad featuring Lauren De Long was its best yet, its reality TV scenario set off the internet BS alarms. Seth Weintraub found that the HP laptop she selected is junk with terrible reviews. Even the pretty star, presented as a random consumer given an impromptu shopping challenge, turns out to be a SAG actress doing a standard TV ad: Lauren’s under NDA not to talk about her experience. [Gizmodo]
NDA! Laptop Lauren can’t say what she thinks of that $700 HP
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Gasp! People we see in Microsoft advertisements are actors! How deceptive. I know Apple would never use actors in their advertising.
@username… ditto.
I don’t care what kind of computer she uses. She’s cute. I hope all the attention gets her a few more acting gigs.
And I’m getting all kinds of tired of the Mac v. PC shit, from both sides. Buy what you want, use it, and be done with it. If so much of your identity is tied up in your gadgets, then you seriously need to re-evaluate some core issues.
Honestly, go read a book or something.
I googled Steve Jobs and found out he isn’t human!
Well, I guess we have known that for years.
I don’t care. I’d still do her.
Guys, I was doing some research online and it I found out John Hodgman isn’t really a PC! When will these commercials stop lying to us!?
Actually the only really interesting thing about that ad is that it’s for a software company, but it doesn’t mention software at all!
Don’t forget to drink your
Ovaltine!Kool-Aid.I can’t help it, I still find it interesting that there seems to be an inverse relationship between love of Vista and good writing skills. The greater the love of Vista, the more broken the writing will be.
See @18 above (my apologies if English isn’t your first language) and SteveJobsIsGod and a bunch of others in the previous thread.
I think what’s funny is when this ad came out everyone was all “finally an ad that tells the truth about Macs!”
Now that the “real person” is a SAG member, working actor, and her laptop turns out to be a piece of crap it’s all
“What do you expect, it’s a commercial.”
I expect some kind of truth. Too much for some, it seems.
And parenthetically, my big moment of disillusion with advertising came when I worked an event at the Gallo winery. Remember those Bartles & James ads where the two old guys were sitting on a stoop talking about wine coolers? Obviously they were actors, but they even created a fake stoop for the shoot, which still stands at the Gallo winery. I mean christ, couldn’t they at least have found a real stoop? But no, its just a facade of a stoop and porch, absolutely nothing real about any part of it.
I know I know, ads are fake, but for some reason that drove home the extent of how fake they are.
Anonymous @ #31:
Two words: Panasonic CF-anything.
Refurbished, used, demo, they can be found for less than $1,000.
THEN we drive a Hummer over yours and mine. Or use ‘em in the rain. Whatever.
wow, good work googling her name and finding http://www.laurendelong.com
Agraham, you have a funny definition of ‘everyone.’
Vista mostly runs fine the problem is vendors crapwareing the PCS.
I dont want google this and than installed (same with yahoo stuff)
Trial norton , give use a break
Trial Office just confuses people into thinking they have the full thing (I have seen stickers on laptops saying microsoft office is installed and in molecule sized letters it says its a trial)
You can pick a decent Dual core intel 17 incher for less than £450 and I would have plumped for one of those.
The criticism about this laptops screen if true need sorting out
The DDR2 instead of DDR3 is just looking for excuses
Fantastic detective work everyone – what a show-up.
#17: Do I? I’m not sure I included a definition of “everyone.” But okay…why not…everyone meaning a huge amount of commenters on the previous post and in articles around the web all proclaimed how great this ad was. Now it is time I guess for the apologists.
Yeah, what a show-up that the actress in an advertisement turned out to be an actress.
Why have so many Mac folk gotten all agitated about this advert?
Newsflash: I’m a Mac isn’t really a Mac, he’s actually an actor called Justin Long. OH MY GOD. The SKY is falling! I was sure he was a computer!
“Laptop Lauren can’t say what she thinks of that $700 HP”
What an awesomely loaded way to put it.
I’ll bet her hair isn’t naturally curly or red either. I’ll never trust another TV commercial! Score one for the Apple detectives.
I will never trust another television commercial ag…again.
(hangs head)
jesus, people are really sensitive about electronics purchases made by other people. use whatever fucking computer you want, i’ll do the same. i’ll even go one step further and promise not to feign outrage that someone in a commercial is an actor. this is idiotic.
The “Dude, yer gettin a Dell” guy did turn out to be a real pothead.
To be fair:
What would the experience with a $700 Mac laptop be like?
Paulr: Tumbleweeds.
Why have so many Mac folk gotten all agitated about this adverthot and bothered by this adorable ginger pixie?
FTFY. And I, too, am rather amazed that anyone thought that this was not scripted; then again, I forget that not everyone is as smart as the average Apple fanboy.
No strikethrough? Why do so many blog comment spaces disallow it?
The Spicy Meatball guy actually needed Alka Seltzer. I’m sure it was completely unscripted.
THE SPICY MEATBALL GUY TOO???
Oh, all bets are OFF man!
ALL BETS ARE OFF!!
(curls up shivering)
“What would the experience with a $700 Mac laptop be like?”
Well, I bought a refurb iBook G4 in 2005 for $849 (yeah I know, more than $700) and have really enjoyed using it. I did add more RAM a year ago.
Overall it has been the best (and cheapest) of the four laptops I have owned sequentially, prior three ran Windows. I will be looking to replace it with an aluminum refurb Mac eventually, maybe in a year or so. My first real computer experience was on a Mac and my only regret is that I chose a Windows machine back in 93 when I bought my first computer and waited so long to switch back.
You may be able to buy a computer running Windows cheaper than one running Mac OS but I think the Mac lasts longer and so is cheaper over its life and is more enjoyable to use the whole time. (After the first week with a Mac I realized how frustrating using Windows was.)
NEWSFLASH: commercials may not be accurate depictions of real life.
Does this mean the Zoom Zoom kid wasn’t driving those Mazdas either? Wtf?
dculberson @5,
Um, an brushed aluminum-skinned abacus signed by Jobs?
With white earphones?