ActiveWin.com - The Most Activated Windows Resource

ActiveWin

User Controls

New User

Edit/View My Profile

Active Network

ActiveMac

ActiveWin

ActiveXbox

DirectX

Downloads

FAQs

Interviews

MS Games & Hardware

Reviews

Rocky Bytes

Support Center

TopTechTips

Windows 2000

Windows Me

Windows Server 2003

Windows Vista

Windows XP

News Centers

Windows/Microsoft

Apple/Mac

Xbox/Xbox 360

News Search

XML/RSS Newsfeeds

Pocket PC Site

FAQ's

Windows Vista

Windows 98/98 SE

Windows 2000

Windows Me

Windows Server 2003

Windows XP

Windows 7

Windows 8

Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 5

Xbox 360

Xbox

DirectX

DVD's

Latest Reviews

Xbox/Games

Fable 2

Applications

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 7

Adobe CS5 Master Collection

Hardware

Microsoft Express Mouse

Latest Interviews

Mike Swanson

Site News/Info

About This Site

Advertise

Affiliates

Default Home Page

Link To Us

Microsoft revives 'I'm a PC' ads--sans Macs

Time: 08:36 EST/13:36 GMT | News Source: CNET | Posted By: Robert Stein

You remember Microsoft's Laptop Hunters, don't you? They were the average folks in Microsoft ads who, two years ago, preferred not to spend so much money on aMac and instead bought shiny new PCs at Best Buy. The first was called Lauren (she worried, sarcastically, that she wasn't cool enough to have a Mac), but now you should meet Julie.

Read Only Comments
Return to News

Displaying Comments 1 through 15 of 15

This is an archived static copy of ActiveWin.com.

#1 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Tuesday, May 10, 2011 10:21:43 AM

I remember the 'average folks' turned out to be paid actors. Ah Microsoft... always devious enough to try to trick everyone, always too stupid to pull it off.

#2 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 06:41:01 AM

I maybe wrong, but I thought just one person was a wannabe actress that did not get paid for her acting for this gig.

#3 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 08:02:16 AM

#2: I don't remember the exact specifics other than Lauren being exposed. I don't remember ever hearing she worked for free, but that's moot anyway. They may as well have put her in a lab coat and called her a scientician.

#4 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 08:50:47 AM

The point I'm making was that she the commercial was real - she just happened to be an actress. It was never proven that this was not a legit ad.

#5 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 11:35:57 AM

#4: Given MS's track record, I don't know if they get the benefit of the doubt when they're trying to portray her as an everyman off the street when she was a professional actress. All they had to do to remove the smell was to acknowledge that she was an actress: "This is Lauren, an aspiring actress who needs a new laptop..." etc.

#6 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 12:58:37 PM

That odor is only perceivable by the olfactory lobes of MS conspiracy theorists

#7 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 02:23:40 PM

#6: When tracked down by Gizmodo, she couldn't say anything because she had signed an MS NDA about the entire experience, including even the HP laptop she ended up picking. What's up with that? What's the issue about getting an everyman to talk about how much better the value of Wintel is versus Apple, unless she was really just an actress reciting lines written for her from Redmond? And no, it's not a conspiracy up there with the Moon landing and Elvis, but it is just a little bit shady.

#8 By 16797 (193.200.150.152) at Wednesday, May 11, 2011 04:03:09 PM

#7 Who cares if she was paid or not?

It's not like people don't do what she did in that ad - buy PCs rather than Macs in order to get more bang for their bucks. Yes, people do that. I suspect you do the same, but hey, don't let that stop you..

#9 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 07:49:32 AM

#8: You're missing the point entirely. The issue was whether she was a genuine 'everyman', or whether they were just trying to portray her as such. It's like taking an actor and sticking him in a pair of glasses and lab coat to make the viewer think the guy is a doctor. They're not lying to you but they're not being upfront either, and they're counting on your incorrect assumptions based on what you perceive from their slight deception.

#10 By 16797 (193.200.150.125) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 08:59:38 AM

No, you are missing the point. It doesn't matter if she is paid or not. The fact is, ordinary people do precisely what she did.

You are focusing on stuff that is irrelevant. What's next, those boots she's wearing don't belong to her really?

Want to see her birth certificate?

#11 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 11:15:41 AM

#10: Where do you see me going off about whether or not she got paid? Of course she got paid and that isn't up for debate, nor is it a negative. The distinction I'm making is whether or not she was an actual grassroots 'everyman' or whether she was being an actress portraying an 'everyman' aka astroturfing. One is genuine; one is a fraud. According to the Gizmodo article, she answered a Craigslist ad looking for people who wanted to get paid to do some market research. She wasn't looking for a laptop and MS just stumbled upon her. SO, while MS was trying to portray her as a normal person looking for a laptop and discovering her best bet was Windows, the reality was that she was an actress paid to follow the script. If you can't (or won't) see the distinction then I don't know what else to say. Remember back a decade or two ago where there was a tiny scandal about the people on shows like Maury or Geraldo were actors instead of the freaks/trailer-trash they were portraying? The audience felt cheated and scammed, but you would say that everyone on TV is an actor, they should have known better and they were still being entertained so 'so what?' So what, indeed.

#12 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 12:08:44 PM

I think you just made my point -

"she answered a Craigslist ad looking for people who wanted to get paid to do some market research. She wasn't looking for a laptop and MS just stumbled upon her."

MS did not go out to hire an actress. They got a response to an ad from someone who happened to be an actress. She probably tested well (being an actress) and they decided to use her. From your own statement, it looks like MS was looking for real people. They didn't call her agent, and there was no intent to hire an actress.

"but you would say that everyone on TV is an actor"

All I know is Pro Wrestling is real. Just ask all the little Hulkamaniacs.

#13 By 16797 (193.200.150.125) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 12:49:06 PM

#11 "SO, while MS was trying to portray her as a normal person looking for a laptop and discovering her best bet was Windows, the reality was that she was an actress paid to follow the script."

But, the script itself is so real and that is what matters: I know I would do precisely what she did. As most people would and do.

Of course they picked her and not some dude like me. Are you serious?

Sigh.

#14 By 15406 (209.87.228.158) at Thursday, May 12, 2011 02:31:13 PM

#12: I think you're right that MS didn't intend to hire a pro actress, but she was never intending to buy a laptop either, so the whole thing was a game from the start.

#13: But, the script itself is so real and that is what matters:

Huh? Do you know anybody that walks around sulking that they aren't cool enough for a Mac??

I know I would do precisely what she did. As most people would and do.

Read the script and cash the cheque? True, most would. That doesn't absolve MS of trying to make everyone think Lauren needed a new laptop and MS just followed her around as she went shopping and said her convenient soundbites.

#15 By 241766 (174.114.162.14) at Friday, May 13, 2011 09:38:49 PM

Everyone on television, especially in advertisements, are paid to act, and read from the script, whether they are professional actors or amateurs doing the same job. And everyone is either scripted heavily, or else they gets hours of footage, and edit the heck out of it, to get the ideal 30 seconds they need to make their point. So-called "reality TV" is no different. Don't blame the actors, blame the editing department. That is where the real evil is. :-) Anyone who believes that Microsoft followed hundreds of people around as they shopped for laptops or desktop systems, and showed the ones who chose Windows on their own, is being naive. This is just another example of a PR firm doing what PR firms do best. No grand conspiracies to see here. Just PR business as usual. Nothing more, nothing less.

replica watches