According to numerous reports, Microsoft has decided to cancel its controversial series of ads featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates after releasing only two ads. When the first ad was released, the reviews were mostly negative, though some commentators, including our own Sarah Perez, thought it was a good effort on behalf of Microsoft to enhance its brand. However, it seems Microsoft didn’t think so itself and is now trying to salvage what is left of this campaign.
To us, it was never quite clear what this campaign was supposed to achieve. The first ad, in which Seinfeld and Gates go shoe shopping, was at least slightly funny. The second ad, which had both live with a ‘normal’ family to get back in touch with reality, was just awkward. Indeed, the whole campaign felt out of touch with reality and completely failed to enhance Microsoft’s branding.
According to Kara Swisher, Microsoft might continue some version of this campaign with Gates alone. That is probably not a bad idea, because Gates himself was surprisingly funny in these ads, but we will definitely not shed a tear for the end of this part of the campaign.
Advert 1:
Advert 2:
