Jerry Seinfeld And Bill Gates' Microsoft Ads Being Pulled

Microsoft is preparing to pull its TV ads featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft's co-founder and chairman Bill Gates.

Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw said the end of the Seinfeld ads was planned well in advance, and wasn't coming in response to any criticism of the spots. "All along we said we were having a teaser campaign," he said. "We're getting ready to start the second phase. This was the plan all along."

The news, broken this afternoon by Valleywag, comes just days after Microsoft aired the latest in the series of commercials, produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, featuring the two men in comic situations. The ads have been largely panned as a strained effort on the software giant's part to not only promote Windows but also portray Microsoft as cool and in touch with regular consumers -- basically, to counter the stodgy image painted in Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads.

Seinfeld, who reportedly received $10 million for his efforts, was a superstar in the 1990s with his hit show. Using him now, in 2008, only added to Microsoft's image as being behind the times, critics said.

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Comments

[Mat8675]

I've never understood why people like to insult Bill Gates. I've always assumed it was envy. He's done some great things, and in his retirement he and his wife continue to do some great things; Via the Gates Foundation.

I thought the commercials were pretty funny. Not hysterical, but better than any other Microsoft commercial I've ever seen.

[NicoleAnon]

Why do rich people have to name their foundations after themselves anyway? Why not just give it another name or do they need to constant adulation of people who are impressed with how generous they are?

The fact is that everyone here probably gives a larger portion of their salary to charity then he does - I would really like to know the exact percentage they give.

[girlonthestreet]

i hate the expression 'with all due respect' so i won't use it. ill just say you clearly have not a single clue about what the hell you're talking about: "Everyone here probably gives a larger portion of their salary to charity then he does" WHAT???? that is an inane comment.

[Hemmingplay]

Someone will have to explain to me why I should care about Bill Gates OR Jerry Seinfeld.

"Humanizing" Bill? What on earth for?

It's all so stupid.

[umber2echo]

AMEN to that!

What Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld do with their lives has no effect on mine. They're not my family, so why should I care?

That said, these ads sucked.

[OhComeOnNow]

Good, 'cuz they were truly horrible - dumb, insulting, AND annoying..­.

[sssteverrr]

Who cares about Bill Gates. All he did was luck into dos and the rest is history. Microsoft thinks Seinfeld is cutting edge. They should have gotten Sarah Silverman, that would get my attention. She probably would have done it for 8 mil instead of 10. I think these are actually Apple commercials in disquise

[NicoleAnon]

I said the same thing but the problem with Silverman is that she is controversial and you can't afford to offend people when you want them to buy your products.

Would women really want to buy something endorsed by a woman who makes jokes about being assualted? You have to think about these things.

[ArtCarnage]

Silverman's comedy is brilliant. She does what only a few comics (such as Steve Martin back in the early part of his career) can successfully pull off. That's to consistently make herself the butt of her own jokes. While she may make clueless and insensitive remarks, it's not the remarks we laugh it, but the person who's making them.

[OhComeOnNow]

You use Silverman, we boycott for life!

[NoSillyName]

Goofy commercials. Not sure what the point was because I didn't pay attention. Gates doing "The Robot" was lame.

[ElvisGump]

Instead of those pointless commercials they ran it probably would have been funnier to have geeked out, they go on Enterprise from 60s Forrest Gumping them in. Gates, blue science tunic, really fake Vulcan ears, Jerry in red. "Hey, why do I have to wear red? I know what happens to the guys wearing red!" Gates:"Ssh!", turbolift opens, they sneak onto the bridge, points to Spock's old hooded viewer.

Jerry:"You know, I always wondered what he saw when he looked in that!" Gates:"Loo­k." Jerry peeks, sees Microsoft Blue Screen of Death, "Houston we have a problem!" Gates looks, sees BSOD. "Oh no, they're still running Windows98!", presses button, sound of MS reboot.

Cut to the bridge crew turning to look at them. Gates & Seinfeld smile lamely, Gates:"Well they're still running Windows98.­" Shots: Spock raising an eyebrow, Kirk worried chin rub, Chekov, Sulu smiling, Uhura hearing AOL sound "You've got mail!" Gates:"We have to get to Engineering!"

Engineering: Gates inserting an installer disk. Jerry:"We're gonna get caught!" Gates:"Rreboot!" Engineering core, lights flicker, sputtering, Scotty alarmed, then everything back to normal. Gates:"Well this hardware's over 40 years old." Jerry:"So now what? We go install Vista on the Death Star too?" Gates:"Why? They're the bad guys." Jerry:"Oh, right." Gates:"Death Star's incompatib­le." Jerry:"Inc­ompatible?­" Gates:"Runs on an old Macintosh.­" Jerry:"Oooh!" Vista logo, fadeout.

Of course I'd rather see Apple do this commercial the other way round. Or Ubuntu frankly, I'm just saying what would be funnier.

[one4obama]

Have you ever thought of going into screen writing? Looks like you would be very good at it!

[ElvisGump]

Gee, thanks for the feedback. No, I'm not a professional screenwriter or anything, just as amateur smartass. I think the easiest and most effective thing that Gates and M$ could do is go for the absolute crowd pleaser. I'm using XP at the moment but switch back and forth to Ubuntu depending on the need. I'd prefer Macinstosh, but can't afford it at the moment.

People really aren't swayed by these sorts of commercials though I think. As a former Machead I only slipped away after I could no longer afford it. My G3 and iMac are getting dusty, but most people can't be moved to switch platorms anymore than you can convert their politics and religions.

I think the best those things do is just buy goodwill for the faithful and as such I think they should be entertaining. I think if they wanted to spend $10 million like they did they could have gotten say Shatner cheaper than Seinfeld and paid off Paramounts for the rights to the footage for example and delighted the fan base.

In that version they could have poked fun and had Gates ask at the end "You're really not in the new movie?" Shatner scowls, Vista logo, fade out.

[OhComeOnNow]

OMG! This was Waaaaaaaaay funnier than the commercials! I just about spit up my water!!! Dude, if you aren't already a Hollywood script writer, sell your house and move to Beverly. We need your talents!!

[Hemmingplay]

Not bad!!

[girlonthestreet]

you are good! obviously you are a copywriter or scriptwriter. dont go work for crispin though is all i have to say. they'll break you down and suck you're soul.

[SonofLiberty1]

Let's never forget that Bill Gates...

Loves to hire FOREIGNERS and let his fellow Americans eat dust!

Bill, you can make all the money you can but that doesn't forgive what you've done
to the American worker...

YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN!

[hypnotoad72]

So does Apple.

Apple also leeches from open source software, sells generic PC parts and puts their logo over it, and then whines when someone clones it. (Psystar/Apple is no different than the Compaq/IBM tussle of the early 1980s, and IBM lost...)

[Info08]

Most don't understand that when they purchase an Apple Computer what they're really paying for is the aesthetic.

Apple's commercials are amusing in the sense that they cast themselves as this paragon of virtue in home computing when they use off the shelf PC components and charge ridiculously high prices.

They are stable machines but not worth what Apple is charging for them.

[Yermammy]

Leeches? LOL Apple users are the smartest code writers on the planet. They see a problem, they fix it- theirselves. Then, they offer it up to those that would benefit (for free or very little cost). That's open sourcing at it's finest. Your the only leech on this blog. Criminy, that was rich!

[extranational]

OMG, not *FOREIGNERS* !!

[AmandaBC]

I like these ads. Good response to the "I'm a mac/I'm a PC" elitist insanity. I think Gates comes off as a human being with an actual sense of humour. And BTW, I love Vista, it's the most stable OS I've ever used, not a single crash since January 2007. Now you can get a really powerful quad-core x64 monster loaded with RAM for about a grand (as opposed to how many thousands for a comparable mac?) which will run Photoshop CS4 (to be released next week) in native 64-bit. Try that with a mac. Ooops, sorry, you'll have to wait until CS5, as CS4 will STILL run in 32-bit mode only and will only be able to address no more than 2gb of RAM at any one time. I thought graphic designers only used macs and software developers gave priority to mac versions..­. Evidently not anymore... Oh, and did I mention you can add RAM to your Vista machine on the fly by just plugging USB flash memory (now even available in 32gb size)? Again, try that on a mac...

[Yermammy]

Already have. And your specs are nonsense. I've got 32G Ram right now. Had it for 9 months now. Never crashes. Never. There's a lot more fords on the market that corvettes too. That make a F#cking Old Rebuilt Dodge better? Case closed. Next.

[AmandaBC]

Actually your post is total nonsense. You can have 1 tera of RAM but CS4 on a Mac will only be able to see 2gb, while it will run in native 64-bit on Vista64, using as much RAM as you have in your box. And BTW, show me a macbook with 32g ram. Right, there isn't one. You can instantly add 32g of RAM to any Vista laptop. So sorry you didn't get it the first time...

[LaMadameDefarge]

Making fun of the way middle America lives, doesn't seem like the best way to increase market share.

It was all about Jerry and Bill feeling alienated and at sea. Nothing about about why Microsoft is (supposedly) a better product.

[hypnotoad72]

Especially that one at the bottom where the both of them are eating breadsticks, they're trying to act like working class America; in an attempt to relate. It can't work because we already know they are wealthy. It doesn't come across as genuine. It is more of an insult.

Unless, as you say, they were indeed trying to make fun of the working class. Hmmm, does Jerry offshore his writing staff?

[PurplePhase]

This wasn't planned.

I know why they pulled the ads. I couldn't watch the videos in this article to the end.

In fact this message was posted before the first video ended and the window was closed :-)

[Roxanna]

I love these ads. They are interesting, funny and keep you watching !

[JustinKase]

Not everyone sees it that way Roxy. This was unbearable adolescent schoolboy humor at its simplistic worst.

[aristippe]

hardly adolescent humor without bathroom jokes

[ccpostman]

Now go watch the lawn grow.

[quiscut]

JS needs to realize his days having his finger on the 'humor pulse' of the young people have come and gone. Oh yeah, he owes WG a refund of some kind.

[Josie763]

Get Larry David in these ads and get some new writers. Now an ad with Larry David and Bill Gates.. that would be funny.

[yodaveg]

I think the ads are brilliant, a first step toward humanizing the übergeek Gates. They play off Seinfeld's self-mocking humor. They are straight from bizzaro land, it's true, but they nicely counter the stiff and stodgy image Microsoft has built up over the years. The question is whether they can hold onto the irreverence once the campaign moves into the next phase.

[ShawnWolfe]

Seinfeld is a genius but these ads are abysmal.
It made me extremely uncomfortable to watch them.

I figure this whole thing is a write-off.

I don't even know what a write-off is.
But THEY do.
And they're the ones writing it off.