A couple of days ago, I criticized Microsoft’s new “laptop hunters” ad, largely for the line “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.” In my interpretation, this seemed to almost be a reference to the status icons that Macs have begun. As someone once said to me, if you have a Mac, it doesn’t matter how clueless you are, everyone assumes you’re technologically competent.

Many other people looking at the ad, though, have seen it a different way, the way Microsoft probably intended the comment. Rather than suggesting that Macs are cool, many see the side of the ad that suggests Macs are only for rich, arrogant people who can afford them, though most people have not worded it quite so strongly.

While I certainly agree that this was Microsoft’s intention, I question the effectiveness of such an ambiguous ad, especially when you can walk into any coffee shop and see that usually at least half of the notebooks there are Macs, being used by ordinary people.

It is certainly true that buying a Mac usually means buying premium hardware, but this ad might not have been the best way of explaining that. Then again, I have never liked Microsoft’s advertising style. (The parodies sure are great, though.)

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