I am going to go into a Gateway Store Saturday with the ad and ask if I can buy "the laptop in the ad". I am going to say how cool and sleek it is...
This will be fun. I may even bring a videocamera.
I will be the Micheal Moore of the computer world! :0)
I e-mailed sales@gateway.com (I attached a jpg of the ad). I inquired about laptops. I got a reply from this guy below:
Eddie.Iiams@gateway.com
He said that it is in fact a Gateway laptop and told me how cool they are. E-mail him and ask about "the cool laptop in PC magazine", and see if you can buy one!
On the other hand, Grandma isn't going to notice that the laptop in the picture is a Mac, I mean... it wouldn't even matter, Gateway knows that those who can tell that the laptop is a powerbook would never buy a gateway anyway... If anything, it helps their ad look better, showing off a superior laptop...
Though that is definatly the tibook, Gateway makes a really spiffy laptop, that looks very similar to the tibook. My dad has one, its silver plastic, pretty thin, pointyass corners. The rest of it sucks a whole bunch though.
<strong>it doesn't make sense to me to put clipart in an ad like that. a company that sells widgets should be trying to show off the benefits of their widgets [or possibly, the detriments of the competitors' widgets]. and if they are going to use clipart, someone should be reviewing it, and making sure that they aren't advertising [in a positive way] a competitor's product.</strong><hr></blockquote>
TOTALLY. I mean, my gosh, SOMEONE (an art director, someone in marketing, whoever greenlights/okays ads, etc.) should - oh, I don't know - LOOK at their stuff and check it for silly stuff like this.
This would be like Hyundai running an ad and the car being shown zinging around the curves is an Audi.
Helloooooo?
It's called "proofing".
And it does indeed reflect on Gateway. It totally gives me the impression that they don't care enough about what they show, how they show it, etc. Speaks volumes.
Are you telling me that NOBODY in the entire chain of producing this ad (concept, copywriter, graphic artist, production person, marketing crew, final proofer, some Gateway higher-up, etc.) actually NOTICED that laptop being shown wasn't a Gateway model?
Not only that, but it was not even a Windows-based PC!
It was - of ALL things - a smoking Apple Titanium PowerBook.
Here's what I bet happened: if Gateway is anything like the idiotic place I used to work at, there were probably about, oh, 4-5 levels of horseshit to navigate through, with each person at each level putting their two cents in, making this change, requesting that change, adding this bullcrap text, scooting this art over, moving this art down, revising this headline, tweaking that color, etc.
Meanwhile, NOBODY seems to be actually reviewing the content and something really stupid goes through the cracks because everyone's so busy playing art director and getting their jollies shuffling stuff around.
They probably agonized over the wording, the layout, etc. and it honestly never occurred to anyone that "hey, this isn't one of our laptops, guys...".
Even if some outside, non-Gateway agency produced this (and I'm sure they did), SOMEONE at Gateway would (and should) have final say-so or "greenlight power" for it, right?
I've dealt with this crap SO much...it's so nice not to anymore.
I am going to go into a Gateway Store Saturday with the ad and ask if I can buy "the laptop in the ad". I am going to say how cool and sleek it is...
This will be fun. I may even bring a videocamera.
I will be the Micheal Moore of the computer world! :0)
I e-mailed sales@gateway.com (I attached a jpg of the ad). I inquired about laptops. I got a reply from this guy below:
Eddie.Iiams@gateway.com
He said that it is in fact a Gateway laptop and told me how cool they are. E-mail him and ask about "the cool laptop in PC magazine", and see if you can buy one!
Send that email to apple's legal department, if that fool claims that Laptop is great and if he says it is indeed a gateway! Would make for a nice legal argument! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
I think everyone in here should buy that PC magazine TODAY, then trot into their nearest Gateway Country Store and ask the clerks, "yeah, I REALLY dig this laptop...where do you have those? Can I check them out?"
Hell, it's a Saturday...I've got nothing to do. Maybe, just for my own silly jollies, I'll do it today. Got a Barnes & Noble and a Gateway Country Store right across the mall from each other.
Nobody has mentioned the possiblity that the designer of the ad knew perfectly well what he/she was doing and put in that clipart showing off a TiBook just to see if anybody at Gateway would notice. It's not uncommon for things to get hidden in a shot.....not that I'D ever do something like that~
<strong>yeah, you really have to do it!!!</strong><hr></blockquote>
OK, I went to Boarders and bought the magazine. It IS REALLY in there. No Photoshop job fellas. :0)
I want to go in to the Gateway store, set my credit card down and order 10 "silver" laptops for my company. This will give the sales guy a BONER with a capital O, and then I say "wait...this isn't the laptop in the ad...what's going on here? Wait, this is a...a....a....a MAC!"
Is this an Apple store? LOL
I live in the KC area. I need a member of this forum in my area to go in with me and videotape this. Do I see any volunteers? Otherwise I will have to mic myself and go in with only an audio recorder. Can you imagine the look on the managers face when I pull out my TiBook from my bag and PROVE to him that his company is trying to sell the entire country a MAC? Once he admits that it IS a Mac (and then blames some elusive upper management brass for the SNAFU), I am going to ask him "Well since it IS a Mac, and you DON'T SELL Macs, can you tell me where I can buy one at?" When he barks "I dont know", then I am going to ask him for a phone book so I can find a local Mac dealer. Maybe even ask if I can use their phone...
I have seen wayyy too many Micheal Moore movies!
E-mail me if you wanna do this! dstranathan@mac.com
We can edit it down slick and make it look like "Roger and Me". and post it on the net! Weeeee!
<strong>Nobody has mentioned the possiblity that the designer of the ad knew perfectly well what he/she was doing and put in that clipart showing off a TiBook just to see if anybody at Gateway would notice. It's not uncommon for things to get hidden in a shot.....not that I'D ever do something like that~
D</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh, I'm sure (that's when I mentioned a third-party, non-Gateway ad agency doing this). But it still stands that someone at Gateway had to okay it or give final approval, right? There's no way they just told the ad agency "make us an ad!" and never saw it again until it hit the magazines.
Someone at Gateway looked at, dug, and signed off on this ad...and never once went "hey, wait a minute...".
Comments
I am going to go into a Gateway Store Saturday with the ad and ask if I can buy "the laptop in the ad". I am going to say how cool and sleek it is...
This will be fun. I may even bring a videocamera.
I will be the Micheal Moore of the computer world! :0)
I e-mailed sales@gateway.com (I attached a jpg of the ad). I inquired about laptops. I got a reply from this guy below:
Eddie.Iiams@gateway.com
He said that it is in fact a Gateway laptop and told me how cool they are. E-mail him and ask about "the cool laptop in PC magazine", and see if you can buy one!
:0)
<strong>it doesn't make sense to me to put clipart in an ad like that. a company that sells widgets should be trying to show off the benefits of their widgets [or possibly, the detriments of the competitors' widgets]. and if they are going to use clipart, someone should be reviewing it, and making sure that they aren't advertising [in a positive way] a competitor's product.</strong><hr></blockquote>
TOTALLY. I mean, my gosh, SOMEONE (an art director, someone in marketing, whoever greenlights/okays ads, etc.) should - oh, I don't know - LOOK at their stuff and check it for silly stuff like this.
This would be like Hyundai running an ad and the car being shown zinging around the curves is an Audi.
Helloooooo?
It's called "proofing".
And it does indeed reflect on Gateway. It totally gives me the impression that they don't care enough about what they show, how they show it, etc. Speaks volumes.
Are you telling me that NOBODY in the entire chain of producing this ad (concept, copywriter, graphic artist, production person, marketing crew, final proofer, some Gateway higher-up, etc.) actually NOTICED that laptop being shown wasn't a Gateway model?
Not only that, but it was not even a Windows-based PC!
It was - of ALL things - a smoking Apple Titanium PowerBook.
Slam!!!
Meanwhile, NOBODY seems to be actually reviewing the content and something really stupid goes through the cracks because everyone's so busy playing art director and getting their jollies shuffling stuff around.
They probably agonized over the wording, the layout, etc. and it honestly never occurred to anyone that "hey, this isn't one of our laptops, guys...".
Even if some outside, non-Gateway agency produced this (and I'm sure they did), SOMEONE at Gateway would (and should) have final say-so or "greenlight power" for it, right?
I've dealt with this crap SO much...it's so nice not to anymore.
<strong>The ad is in PC Magazine. 2 page spread.
I am going to go into a Gateway Store Saturday with the ad and ask if I can buy "the laptop in the ad". I am going to say how cool and sleek it is...
This will be fun. I may even bring a videocamera.
I will be the Micheal Moore of the computer world! :0)
I e-mailed sales@gateway.com (I attached a jpg of the ad). I inquired about laptops. I got a reply from this guy below:
Eddie.Iiams@gateway.com
He said that it is in fact a Gateway laptop and told me how cool they are. E-mail him and ask about "the cool laptop in PC magazine", and see if you can buy one!
:0)</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Cant wait to see a video if you do it!
Send that email to apple's legal department, if that fool claims that Laptop is great and if he says it is indeed a gateway! Would make for a nice legal argument! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
I think everyone in here should buy that PC magazine TODAY, then trot into their nearest Gateway Country Store and ask the clerks, "yeah, I REALLY dig this laptop...where do you have those? Can I check them out?"
Hell, it's a Saturday...I've got nothing to do. Maybe, just for my own silly jollies, I'll do it today. Got a Barnes & Noble and a Gateway Country Store right across the mall from each other.
Hmm...
[puts on devil horns and Apple T-shirt...]
D
<strong>yeah, you really have to do it!!!</strong><hr></blockquote>
OK, I went to Boarders and bought the magazine. It IS REALLY in there. No Photoshop job fellas. :0)
I want to go in to the Gateway store, set my credit card down and order 10 "silver" laptops for my company. This will give the sales guy a BONER with a capital O, and then I say "wait...this isn't the laptop in the ad...what's going on here? Wait, this is a...a....a....a MAC!"
Is this an Apple store? LOL
I live in the KC area. I need a member of this forum in my area to go in with me and videotape this. Do I see any volunteers? Otherwise I will have to mic myself and go in with only an audio recorder. Can you imagine the look on the managers face when I pull out my TiBook from my bag and PROVE to him that his company is trying to sell the entire country a MAC? Once he admits that it IS a Mac (and then blames some elusive upper management brass for the SNAFU), I am going to ask him "Well since it IS a Mac, and you DON'T SELL Macs, can you tell me where I can buy one at?" When he barks "I dont know", then I am going to ask him for a phone book so I can find a local Mac dealer. Maybe even ask if I can use their phone...
I have seen wayyy too many Micheal Moore movies!
E-mail me if you wanna do this! dstranathan@mac.com
We can edit it down slick and make it look like "Roger and Me". and post it on the net! Weeeee!
[ 12-21-2002: Message edited by: dstranathan ]
[ 12-21-2002: Message edited by: dstranathan ]
[ 12-21-2002: Message edited by: dstranathan ]</p>
<strong>Nobody has mentioned the possiblity that the designer of the ad knew perfectly well what he/she was doing and put in that clipart showing off a TiBook just to see if anybody at Gateway would notice. It's not uncommon for things to get hidden in a shot.....not that I'D ever do something like that~
D</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh, I'm sure (that's when I mentioned a third-party, non-Gateway ad agency doing this). But it still stands that someone at Gateway had to okay it or give final approval, right? There's no way they just told the ad agency "make us an ad!" and never saw it again until it hit the magazines.
Someone at Gateway looked at, dug, and signed off on this ad...and never once went "hey, wait a minute...".
Post to slashdot, cite the magazine and the scan.
Email the tech writer at your local newspaper.
Email news.com and other tech sites.
Guaranteed someone would bite.
<strong>Come on guys, we can try and make this big! Get some buzz goin' and the story may get a decent amount of attention.
Post to slashdot, cite the magazine and the scan.
Email the tech writer at your local newspaper.
Email news.com and other tech sites.
Guaranteed someone would bite.
I e-mailed Slashdot, MacAddict, and my local paper (KC Star).
Come on guys, I need a partner to do this! I have a Canon ZR-10 digital camera. I just need a camera team! :0)
[ 12-21-2002: Message edited by: dstranathan ]</p>