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It's funny.  Laugh. Businesses Apple

Will Ferrell Stars in New Apple "Switch" Ads 85

Znonymous Coward writes "Just in time for the holidays... Apple has posted a couple of funny new switch adds staring Will Ferrell as Santa."
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Will Ferrell Stars in New Apple "Switch" Ads

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  • Interesting, no? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hanji ( 626246 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @08:55PM (#4755863)
    Isn't it interesting how the content of these switch adds tends to be completely ignored, but apple keeps posting them, because of their great amusement value?
    • Re:Interesting, no? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Argh! It's spreading! The abbreviation would be "ad", not "add"
    • by wbswbs ( 99099 )
      The content at this point is irrelevant. Apple's message that switching to MacOS X is a good thing is out there already--most potential "switchers" already now about the campaign and its purposes. The Will Ferrell-type switch ads are primarily to maintain buzz/mindshare. I seems to be working, at least here on /.
  • by agent oranje ( 169160 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @08:58PM (#4755884) Journal
    I laughed my ass off at the first one of these - and I'm amazed that apple actually put these up on their site. If I didn't already make the switch, i think santa would fix that for me.
  • adds - ads (Score:5, Informative)

    by *xpenguin* ( 306001 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @08:59PM (#4755887)
    add: 2 + 2 = 5
    ad: advertisement
  • Does this mean Will Ferrell isn't really Santa? =(
  • Nice try (Score:5, Funny)

    by tedDancin ( 579948 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:06PM (#4755937)
    They're good, but they sure don't beat Microsofts' "Steve Ballmer plays big sweaty elf under the mistletoe showing off XP's security features" switch campaign.
  • How fitting (Score:3, Funny)

    by PhysicsGenius ( 565228 ) <physics_seeker.yahoo@com> on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:11PM (#4755974)
    Will Ferrell : Humor :: Apple : Serious computing
  • Ugh (Score:3, Offtopic)

    by XBL ( 305578 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:15PM (#4756002)
    <troll>
    The background music in these ads is about as annoying as Will Ferrell. These switch ads are about as stale as Cowboy Neal in a Slashdot poll.

    I would like to see Steve Job in a Switch ad. Now that would be funny. Then please retire the campaign after that Apple.
    </troll>

    • Re:Ugh (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mbbac ( 568880 )
      Steve could be in a switch ad. He switched to Macintosh after using NeXT for a while after he came back to Apple.
  • by heldlikesound ( 132717 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:17PM (#4756007) Homepage
    Yes, they have problems, yes, they should open things up a bit more (Quicktime), and yes they should use their legal hounds much less, but can you name another computer company with this kind of sense of humor? I can't imagine, Dell, Microsloth, Gateway, or IBM putting these kind of ads online... They are not really business related (he doesn't talk about Apple products that much..), they are just fun little spoofs on the Switch ad campaign.

    Bravo Apple, now just send those lawyers up to the North Pole...

    • IBM? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by PaulBu ( 473180 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:37PM (#4756114) Homepage
      Well, actually their Linux commercials/ads
      were quite funny!

      See:

      http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/04/19/ibm. gu erilla.idg/

      or

      http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/business/media /1 1ADCO.html

      ("He just loves the game..." :) )

      Paul B.
    • I like Apple's sense of humor too. I laughed so hard when Will compared his experience with Macs to a parfait at Macworld.

      "All you can do with the parfait is eat it, and poop it out. The computer is better than the parfait, and this parfait is good."

      "My name is Will Ferrell, and I'm a porn actor."

      Quotes from: http://mac.ign.com/articles/372/372677p1.html

      Also: http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2002/07/2002071 8112750.shtml

      Do you think anyone will get higher than a score of two on a Apple and Will Ferrell story?
    • by Anonymous Coward
      yes, they should open things up a bit more (Quicktime)

      What are you a fucking idiot? Apparently... This particular topic has been beaten to death on slashdot and it's amazing that there exists one last person who hasn't gotten clue. Quicktime is container format and is completely open and documented. In fact, if you hobble your way over to freshmeat (which considering you completely and utter ignorance, might be difficult for you) you can find several open source projects to play Quicktime files.

      Here, I'll even give you a link to the quicktime specs and documentation [apple.com].

      Now lets see if /. will let me mod you down too. +5 hah. Maybe +1 because of your rather pithy comment about other companies not being able to pull off a switch campaign.

    • "Yes, they have problems

      Really no more than most othe tech copanies... actually they're typically ahead of h curve most times.

      "yes, they should open things up a bit more (Quicktime)"

      If youmean open source... good luck... if you mean documented... you don;t have apin. Quicktime is fully documenbed. Remember, quicktime is only a container format for codecs.

      Something tells me that you're talking about the .mov fle forat thouh... (talk to sorenson). If ever there was an official quicktime file format... it is MPEG 4, as MPEG is based of of Quicktime, and any new player can play or stream MPEG video and audio.

      "and yes they should use their legal hounds much less

      Its a legal rquirement if they ever hope to maintain copyrights to thei products.

      -----
  • by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:37PM (#4756115)
    ...also enjoyed:

    Will Ferrell Apple Switch Spoof shown at MacWorld [technojunkie.org]
    • directly from Apple.com

      i was at MWNYC this summer and every time it ran people seemed to laugh a lot..... i guess they made a lot of them with him.... there are a lot more actors/musicians/people in the public eye that supposedly shot spots that are yet to surface.... everyone from Lou Reed to Harry Knowles (the guy that runs aintitcoolnews.com) supposedly recorded them.
    • Thank you for linking to my page. Maybe someday I'll get /.'d, but for now I can just watch the access_log scrollin' on by. :-)
    • Stop linking unamerican, they are super well known for not actually mailing out items that people order, or leaving them for 6 months before shipping. I'm sure you'll say "they sent mine okay", but do some googling and you'll see you're advertising a ripoff.
  • by usr122122121 ( 563560 ) <`usr122122121' `at' `braxtech.com'> on Monday November 25, 2002 @09:41PM (#4756136) Homepage
    Is it just me, or does Will Ferrell in a Santa Suit remind you of the scene in Trading Places (83) [imdb.com] where a very drunk Dan Akroyd wanders around in a Santa suit stealing food at a stock broker's christmas party...

    oh, it is just me? nevermind then.

  • So in this switch ad, Santa talks about being forced to use "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because he was sued. It happens to have the same theme and music as the other Apple ads.
    It wasn't even funny...

    I think that in their quest to produce something funny with this "Hip" SNL star, the Apple Advert (Appvert?) guys neglected to mention "Apple" or "Macintosh", "Who wants to install drivers on Christmas?", or even "Like ummm, that sucked. You know?".

    It's really a parody of an Apple commercial if you don't mention an Apple product.

    What, did Apple management have an objection to an actual parody?
  • http://www.pixelred.com/switch.htm

    Another funny switch parody.
  • old? (Score:2, Funny)

    by dcstimm ( 556797 )
    isnt this old. I remember seeing one a long time ago that will farrell did, he was talking about pudding and it appered at the mac world show.

    Not surprising he is doing more.... Since he probably is broke since he stoped doing SNL.

    he is the funniest man alive

    "now pee your pants"
  • by TomatoMan ( 93630 ) on Monday November 25, 2002 @11:25PM (#4756533) Homepage Journal
    http://www.apple.com/switch/ads/yoyoma.html [apple.com]

    If you're going to talk about new Switch ads, I'd personally rather listen to Yo-Yo Ma than Will Ferrell. He's new up there too. Might be worth a teeny mention.
    • Too bad he comes across as an arrogant fool who wouldn't know which part of his body goes on the toilet. If anything, I don't *want* to be associated with him in any fashion.

      "I'm a shitter. Not a porcelain user. I like to poop. When I feel like pooping, I want to just poop. In the street. At a Chinese restaurant. In my trousers.

      "With my old low-flow toilet, I had to be so crazy watchful of my bowel movements. The turkish G12 toilet from Pfitzer lets me stand an pinch one off, if I want. That's what pooping is about. Not porcelain, or barriers to my poopoing. I can shit right on the floor if I want. It's just a hole.

      "My name is Yo-Yo Ma, and I eat a lot of bulk fiber."
    • I love his subtle modesty at the end:

      "My name is Yo-Yo Ma, and I play the cello"

      That's like Bobby Fisher saying

      "My name is Bobby Fisher, and I play chess"

      (yes, I do play the cello :)
      • Or like Bobby saying

        "My name is Bobby Fisher, and I'm an anti-semite."

        Bobby would never say the first thing, because he's a prick. He would say the second, because he's a prick.
  • If you haven't seen in then ... Bill -- Owns a software company [macboy.com] [Requires Flash 5 or greater].
  • This is

    The Best Switch Ad [nyu.edu]

    of all...
  • Yo Yo Ma got married to a very nice woman from Hong Kong.

    Newspapers print the message as Yo Yo Ma Marries Yo Ma Ma.

    Before you mod me down, please consider that I told this joke in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei, and everyone got it and everyone loved it.
    • Ah yes, Chinese word play. I think everyone can agree that if you're not Chinese (or don't live in China) it's generally not that funny.
  • So funny (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    These are great. Seriously I like that Apple has fun with these and (maybe) lets Will just spout off crazy stuff. It shows that cool-hipness I've always thought apple had. How many companies are going to show a comercial where santa says 'i got my ass handed to me' lol.

    btw to the people who were saying how these have nothing to do with Mac's, they know, thats why it says 'parodies of our switcher ads' its just apple being apple and having fun. I imagine its probably a lot of fun to shoot these ads with Will Ferrell and that he says a lot more off the wall funny stuff that we'll never get to see ;)
  • by belbo ( 11799 ) on Tuesday November 26, 2002 @07:30AM (#4757821)
    The 'switch' parody from 'drunkgamers' [drunkgamers.com]. (URL points to a list of mirrors, file size is 14 MB, file type is .mov).

    Of course, Apple is hardly likely to post that one *g*

    b.

    P.S.: Who is Will Ferrell anyway?

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