"Get a Mac" ads may be dead

Apple's familiar "Hello, I'm a Mac," "and I'm a PC" ad campaign could be history, according to one of the actors who starred in the popular commercials.

Justin Long, who played the calm and collected Mac to John Hodgman's bumbling PC, told The Onion A.V. Club that he thinks the ads "might be done."

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"In fact, I heard from John, I think they’re going to move on," Long said. "I can’t say definitively, which is sad, because not only am I going to miss doing them, but also working with John." Long went on to say that he and Hodgman became close friends, as they often killed time together between takes of the commercials.

The ad campaign had a tendency to annoy and delight PC and Mac users alike. On one hand, they were amusing in their mockery of computing stereotypes, with the smug Mac and geeky Windows PC. At their best, the ads conveyed actual advantages that Macs held over Windows, such as the multiple versions of Windows Vista users had to choose from. But the ads also stretched the truth -- for instance, claiming that Windows PCs don't work out of the box -- or relied too heavily on stereotypes, like the idea that Windows PCs are all business while Macs are better at lifestyle tasks.

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I doubt that Apple will ever officially confirm that the Get a Mac ads are finished, or explain why. My guess is that Apple needs to change course as Microsoft has found a successful ad strategy of its own: Its "I'm a PC" ads took a subtle jab at Apple's smug mockery of Windows users, and later, Microsoft's "laptop hunters" campaign pushed the idea that Windows PC buyers get more for less -- a move that caused Apple's lawyers to claim false advertising, obviously riling the company.

I'm sad to see these ads go, even though they were kind of bothersome. It's probably because Hodgman rules.

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