*

16.1.09

You know what really gets me about the unbelievably bad Songsmith commercial by Microsoft? It's not the bad video game music from the 80s, the cheesy script or the completely irony-free presentation. No, it's the sad story that lurks underneath. A story of a father who is so caught up in his going-nowhere, soul-crushing advertising job that he has never heard his own daughter sing. He then uses her tool for creating autonomy (a macbook, btw) and assimilates it into his own soulless corporate existence. It's really quite a profound critique of neoliberalism.*

* Warning: clicking link may very well cause brain damage. (...) accepts no liability for any claim made in this regard.

5 Comments:

Blogger Mikkel said...

Riddle me this, Einstein: If that is such a bad (viral) commercial, why has everyone on earth seen it?

January 16, 2009 11:25 pm  
Blogger mrtn said...

My first thought, also. But: There are many people insisting it's not an ironic thing. While they have excellent brand recognition, that doesn't mean it's a positive message. I mean, Osama bin Laden has excellent brand recognition across the western world, but not a lot of positive supporters.

January 17, 2009 12:21 am  
Blogger Mikkel said...

So you're saying the Microsoft public relations people put together a commercial so bad it made every interbläg news source by accident? You're not feeling any cognitive dissonance there?

January 17, 2009 9:48 am  
Blogger Mikkel said...

I'm just messing with you! I saw you had a comment drought so I was trying to cheer you up. Did it work?

January 18, 2009 10:42 am  
Blogger mrtn said...

Every day is drought season, here at (...). You actually did cheer me up, strangely. Something about the thought of evil Microsoft marketers outsmarting and out-ironying everyone on the internets seemed kind of funny.

January 18, 2009 10:49 am  

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