The Get a Mac campaign is a current (2006–present) television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company's advertising agency. Shown in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan, the ads in the campaign have become easily recognizable because each ad follows a standard simple template: against a minimalist all-white background, a man dressed in casual clothes introduces himself as a Mac ("Hello, I'm a Mac."), while a man in a more formal suit-and-tie combination introduces himself as a Windows personal computer ("And I'm a PC."). The two then act out a brief vignette in which the capabilities and attributes of Mac and PC are compared, with PC—characterized as formal, stuffy and overly concerned with work—often being frustrated by the more laid-back Mac's abilities. Some recent ads have shifted focus away from comparing features of the computer systems to a more general comparison. The most recent ones, however, are mainly concerning Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7.
The original American ads star actor Justin Long as the Mac and author and humorist John Hodgman as the non-Mac PC, and are directed by Phil Morrison. The American ads also air on Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand television, and at least 24 of them were dubbed into Spanish, French, German, and Italian. The British campaign stars comedic duo Robert Webb as Mac and David Mitchell as PC while the Japanese campaign features the comedic duo Rahmens. Although several of the British and Japanese ads originated in the American campaign, they are generally slightly altered to suit local sensibilities. Both the British and Japanese campaigns also feature several original ads not seen in the American campaign.
The Get a Mac campaign is the successor to the Switch ads that were first broadcast in 2002. Arguably, the two are most similar in that actors in both campaigns were filmed against a plain white background. Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the campaign during a shareholders meeting the week before the campaign started. The campaign also coincided with a change of signage and employee apparel at Apple retail stores detailing reasons to switch to Macs.
The Get a Mac campaign received the Grand Effie Award in 2007.
Ads
The following is a brief summary of the different ads that appear in the various campaigns to date. All of the ads play on perceived weaknesses of standard non-Mac personal computers, especially those running Microsoft Windows, of which PC is clearly intended to be a parody, and corresponding strengths possessed by the Mac OS (such as immunity to circulating viruses and spyware). Each of the ads is about 30 seconds in length and is accompanied by a song called "Having Trouble Sneezing," which was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. The advertisements are presented below in alphabetical order, not chronological order.
North American campaign
The following is an alphabetical list of the ads that appeared in the campaign shown in the United States and Canada. These ads can be viewed online at Apple's Get a Mac Web site and the Canadian equivalent.
- Accident —A wheelchair-bound PC, who is wearing casts on his arms, explains that he fell off his desk when someone tripped over his power cord, thus prompting Mac to point out that the MacBook's and MacBook Pro's magnetic power cord prevents such an occurrence. The Macbook at the end of the ad gets its cord pulled out of it, detaching harmlessly.
- Angel/Devil —Mac gives PC an iPhoto book to view. Suddenly, angel and devil versions of PC appear behind him. The angel encourages PC to compliment Mac, while the devil prods PC to destroy the book. In the end, PC says the book is good, and then turns around, feeling the air where the angel and devil versions of PC were.
- Bake Sale —PC is seen having a bake sale. When Mac questions PC regarding the occasion, PC replies that he is trying to raise money by himself in order to fix Vista's problems. Mac decides to contribute by buying a cupcake and as soon as he takes a bite, PC wants Mac to pay ten million dollars for it.
- Bean Counter —PC is doing a little budgeting and admits that Vista's problems are frustrating PC users and that it's time to take drastic action: spending almost all of the money on advertising. When Mac asks PC if he thinks the small amount of money left will fix Vista, PC reallocates all of it to advertising. This ad coincided with the introduction of Microsoft's "I'm a PC" campaign.
- Better —Mac praises PC’s ability with spreadsheets, but explains that he is better with life stuff, such as music, pictures, and movies. PC defensively asks what Mac means by "better," only to sheepishly claim a different definition when Mac tells him.
- Better Results —PC and Mac discuss making home movies, and show each other their efforts. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen enters, representing Mac's movie, while PC's movie is represented by a man with a hairy chest and a blonde wig wearing a dress similar to Bündchen's. PC states that there's some work in progress with his movie.
- Biohazard Suit —PC first appears wearing a biohazard suit to protect himself from PC viruses and malware, of which PC says there are 20,000 discovered every day. Mac asks PC if he is going to live the suit for the rest of his life, and PC cannot hear him because he is too protected by his virus-proof mask, and takes it off. PC then shrieks and struggles to place it on again.
- Boxer —PC is introduced as if he was in a Boxing match, stating that he's not going down without a fight. Mac says back that it's not a competition but, rather, people switching to a computer that's simpler and more intuitive. The ring announcer admits his brother-in-law got a Mac and loves it.
- Breakthrough —Mac and PC's therapist (played by Corinne Bohrer, see "Counselor" below) suggest that PC's problems are simply a result of software and hardware coming from various places, whereas Mac gets all his hardware and software from one place. "It's not my fault!" PC keeps repeating with support of Mac and the therapist. Then PC concludes, "It's Mac's fault! It's Mac's fault!" with Mac and the therapist disappointed in PC's conclusion. PC ends with the comment "What a Breakthrough!"
- Broken Promises —PC tells Mac how excited he is about the launch of Windows 7 and assures him it won't have the same problems as Vista. However, Mac feels like he heard this before, and has a series of flashbacks about PC assuring Mac about Windows Vista, XP, Me, 2000, 98, 95, 3.1, and 2. On the last flashback, he says "Trust me." Back in the present, he says this time it's going to be different, then says "Trust me." in an almost identical way to the flashback.
- Calming Teas —PC announces calming teas and bath salts to make Vista's annoyances easier to live with, such as 'Crashy-time Chamomile', 'Missing Driver Mint', 'Pomegranate Patience', and 'Raspberry Restart'. He doesn't get time to talk about his Bath Salts.
- Choose a Vista —Confused about which of the six versions of Windows Vista to get, PC spins a big game wheel. PC lands on Lose a Turn, and Mac questions why PC put that space on the wheel.
- Computer Cart —PC and three other men in suits are on a computer cart. When Mac asks why, PC says that he gets an error with a Windows Media Player Dynamic-link library file (WMP.DLL), and that the others suffer from similar errors (The man in the beige suit represents error 692, the man in the grey suit represents a Syntax error, and the man in the bottom of the cart represents Fatal error in which PC whispers, "He's a goner," after the commercial). Mac explains that Macs don't get cryptic error messages.
- Counselor —PC and Mac visit a psychotherapist (played by Corinne Bohrer) to resolve their differences. However, while Mac finds it easy to compliment PC ("You are a wizard with numbers and you dress like a gentleman"), PC's resentment is too deep for him to reciprocate ("I guess you are better at creating stuff, even though it's completely juvenile and a waste of time."). The counselor suggests that they come twice a week.
- Customer Care —Mac is seen again with an Apple Genius, a real-life person who can help you with your Mac problems. PC then has a short montage of endless automated customer-support messages, never reaching a real person, which is not to PC's liking, and he then says that his source of help is 'the same' as Mac Genius.
- Elimination —PC attempts to find Megan, a new laptop hunter, the perfect PC. Unfortunately, no PCs are immune to viruses, which is Megan's #1 concern, so PC leaves her with Mac.
- Flashback —Mac asks PC if he would like to see the Web site and home movie that he made. This prompts PC to remember a time when both he and Mac were children: when the younger Mac asks the younger PC if he would like to see some artwork he did, the younger PC takes out a calculator and calculates the time they have just wasted. (This may be a reference to the time when PC's were text-based, while Macs were slower but had GUIs) Returning from the flashback, PC does the same thing.
- Genius —Mac introduces PC to one of the Apple Geniuses from the Apple Retail Stor
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