Microsoft’s Nauseating Ad

Microsoft’s Nauseating Ad

The software company’s latest spokeswoman can’t keep her breakfast down.

Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - 11:44am

Take Out/TakeAway: Microsoft still has the lead in the browsing war, but it's long been accused of doing little to improve on IE's features while challengers like Mozilla's Firefox continue to innovate. To show the Web community that it still is capable of building a cool browser with all the must-have features, it's unveiled IE 8, along with a series of ads starring Dean Cain to amuse and intrigue the Web community. Apparently, it felt it went too far in crafting a video that shows projectile vomiting and fetish sites that involve hairy women.

Social Media Effect: It's hard to shock the Web community. Or so you thought. Microsoft's decision to run the vomiting couple ad is questionable regardless of where the video is to run. Among the user comments on YouTube, there are some frank questions that usually go something like—Gross! Could Microsoft really be behind this ad? But as Chris Matyszczyk's column on CNet points out, it's the most popular in the series of "Browse Better" ads. That's not surprising. Shock value usually generates more chatter. But judging by YouTube user comments, it's hardly winning over the Web community. As one outraged commenter writes: "how offensive! who the hell is your audience?"

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YouTube BrandWatch is The Big Money's exploration into how the world's best-known businesses, so adept at managing their images offline, are being perceived online, where control is harder to come by. Every week, The Big Money features a corporate-themed video that's had significant viewership on YouTube: some approved, some unapproved, some mashed-up combinations of the two. And we'll ask our readers to vote on how the video affects the brands. We think the responses will surprise you, and provide a window onto what is fast becoming the most important playground for corporate games. (Note: This feature has no official relationship to YouTube or its owner, Google.)

 

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  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
Microsoft’s Nauseating New Ad

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