Why are the people in the switch ads lying?

brussell · June 18, 2002 4:00PM

They're liars. You can tell. Everything - the body language, the speech, if someone I was talking to acted like them, I'd think they were hiding something.

The best example - <a href="http://www.apple.com/switch/ads/lizarichardson.html"; target="_blank">Liza Richardson.</a>

"And I bought my own... um... iBook." [looks like she's pleading for you to believe her]

And.. I'm a... [looks down] DJ.

And <a href="http://www.apple.com/switch/ads/damonwright.html"; target="_blank">this guy</a> is even worse.

"I'm a former IT manager [looks down, makes emphatic hand movements] and business man."

Liar.

thuh freak · June 18, 2002 4:05PM

i think i read that they are talking in their own words, unscripted. some1 just watching them with a camera. they are supposed to be a little bit uncomfortable, i think that accounts for the suspected lies.

they are just lame tho. nonetheless, i hope it helps apple and the mac platform.

eman · June 18, 2002 4:13PM

And you think they're lying because...

brussell · June 18, 2002 4:33PM

[quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

<strong>And you think they're lying because...</strong><hr></blockquote>It's just a feeling. I provided some examples above - their speech and body language just feels wrong.

Maybe they are actors - I thought Apple was presenting them as real people. If they are, they're bad actors.

Does anyone else feel like they're lying too?

ghost_user_name · June 18, 2002 4:40PM

I got the same impression, BRussell, but thuh Freak is right -- those people were not actors and their lines were not scripted. Nervousness and anxiety are probably factors in their gestures.

On that note, I think Apple couldn't have done much worse in picking out "real" people, IMO.

scott f. · June 18, 2002 4:41PM

Personally... I LOVE the campaign idea... but I HATE the ads themselves. I'd rather see IT Professionals talking about how EASY it is to integrate Macs & PCs in a PC environment... or PC Developers who switched-over, stating how not only can they get the SAME work done, but now they do it on an OS that is ENJOYABLE to use.

The ads seem staged because of the choice of background music, the way they "over made-up" the people with too much make-up and hair products... the people look like actors TRYING to act spontaneous... not "real people".

Like I said... the idea is cool, but the implementation (IMHO) falls flat.

bring-on the next "Switch" ad campaign.

bluejekyll · June 18, 2002 5:11PM

I don't think they are lying, but they probably aren't telling the whole truth, I mean no advertisement does.

I think my problem is they don't give any concrete examples, just fluffy stuff about how much better everything is.

What I want to see is some showcasing of How much conectivity is available with a mac. They should show an iBook or PowerBook coming into a drab windows world and interconnecting easily. Or going into the Unfriendly Unix world and showing how easy it is to set up the same stuff with OS X. Or better yet, they should show a Mac OS X Server box serving up both a windows network and a Linux network with ease. Now those would be cool... <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

steve666 · June 18, 2002 5:33PM

The problem with the ads is that the people are obnoxious (especially that IT guy-I want to punch his teeth out), and the jumpy camera is ANNOYING. The key to a good commercial is not to be annoying, and make people turn the channel before they hear anything about Apple. They need to be redone pronto..........................................

buonrotto · June 18, 2002 5:41PM

I like the direction of the ads, and I don't think the people are lying. I do think people are playing Jacques Derrida a little too much.

applenut · June 18, 2002 5:42PM

while talking they should have cut scenes of them actually doing what they are talking about.

ie: talking about how DV is so easy and have scenes of import, edit, and burning to a DVD.

murbot · June 18, 2002 5:46PM

Here's some info on <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?show_code=td&tmplt_type=Everything"; target="_blank">Liza</a>.

Got that link from Ars. Pic isn't showing though...

Apparently she's one of the best DJs in the area, really knowledgeable, blah blah. I don't catch her show up here in the igloo, but some of the Arsians do, and seem to think she's great.

She did kind of forget what she did for a living there though, didn't she?

I was on TV a couple of years ago for this Business Spotlight thing that ran during the evening news. Damn, that 2 minute interview was the hardest freakin' thing I have ever done. I vowed that day to never make fun of anyone on TV... give those folks credit for even getting in front of that camera, believe me. I though it would be a walk in the park.... until I saw that light on the camera come on. :eek:

cowerd · June 18, 2002 5:50PM

[quote]And this guy is even worse.<hr></blockquote>

Before you foist your pseudo-psycho crap on this BB, read Damon Wright's blog:

<a href="http://mac-os.blogspot.com/"; target="_blank">http://mac-os.blogspot.com/</A>;

Scroll down and read the post for Sunday, June 16, 2002. Then eat some crow.

eman · June 18, 2002 5:57PM

[quote]Originally posted by applenut:

<strong>while talking they should have cut scenes of them actually doing what they are talking about.

ie: talking about how DV is so easy and have scenes of import, edit, and burning to a DVD.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah, that's a great idea.

buonrotto · June 18, 2002 6:22PM

It's hard to adequately show how things are done, but I guess the quick-cut editing and just some screenies of a lovely OS X screen in action could be pretty convincing. I think it has to be handled lightly -- you can't try to explain how things work in a 30 second commercial. (Unless of course it's only 3 steps with the last being, "there's no step 3."

)

dartblazer · June 18, 2002 6:33PM

well, since i'm sure most if not all of you have iMovie, why don't you recreate the damned ads yourself. you can either use the people from apple.com/switch or tape your self and see how it turns out.

pusherman · June 18, 2002 6:39PM

This, to me, is the most interesting part of Damon's writeup from Sunday:

[quote]they shipped me to Boston to hang out with what turned out to be the second to the last round of 25 of us "Joe Regulars" who were to be shot on film by Mr. Morris himself. Apparently, the next round would be celebraties. We hung out with one, but I still can't say who. I have a picture of myself with him. His arm's around me. What a coup.<hr></blockquote>

Ooh, celebrities.. :cool:

hobbes · June 18, 2002 8:42PM

I like the ads, here's why. (But I also like most things Errol Morris has done, so go figure.)

Part of good advertising is focus. Taking one idea and selling it strongly and clearly. These ads are not about doing side-by-side comparisons or showing products. They're meant to spark interest, plant a bug, attract curiosity. To get people to entertain the idea of "switching over."

This is the first advertisement in a series. Side-by-side is great, but... That can happen in the next one, or another one.

By the way, the "lying" notion is utterly strange to me. Because they pause, or make hand gestures, they're liars? Are you kidding? They just seem some smart folk chatting, unscriptedly, about why they like Macs (or why they hate Windows).

They're eccentric (OK, sometimes annoying) but quirky, and sometimes funny.

fil · June 18, 2002 9:31PM

I love the general idea of the ads.

Other people have mentioned this, but the end of the commercials drive me nuts when they seem to be picking their brains to remember their name and occupation.

My problem is the people seem a little too quirky. I could picture the average PC user looking at the ad and thinking "yeah that looks like a mac user alright"

I want to see men and women in business suits saying "I 'work' with Windows all day long, when I come home I get to relax in style with my Mac" or something to that effect.

nebagakid · June 18, 2002 9:35PM

they don't kick it old school, or even rennasance school, just new school, and that scares me

buonrotto · June 18, 2002 10:25PM

Wha?

Anyway, I also like Errol Morris' stuff before this, so that's just my taste I guess.

The eyes thing is very subtle. The difference between what eyes do when the person is recalling something and what they do when the person is making it up are fairly subtle but clearly different. I haven't studies their eyes closely (and I'm too lazy to now

), but "lying" eyes dart back and forth, and the eyelids blink (not flutter) quickly and forcibly (their eyelids wrinkle up). For recalling, a person's eyes either look down or up, and their eyelids may or may not close (not flutter) lightly.

Thier postures seem a bit defensive at the end, but I think it's for the same reason as why they stumble over who they are. It was probably one of the first things they were asked: "Who are you and what o you do?" Being isolated on a sound stage staring at a camera with a man's face superimposed on it can be a little, um, disorienting at first.

cowerd · June 18, 2002 10:40PM

This may explain their body language:

[quote]Morris filmed each of us for somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour and a half. In between film role change, they took about a hundred stills of us. Keep in mind, as this is happening, and the hot lights are beating down on us, we have no idea what this is for.<hr></blockquote>

And here's at least one person's opinion of the marketing people in charge of the whole exercise:

[quote]Throughout the long day in Boston, we'd been hanging around with the worldwide marketing manager and her assistant WW marketing manager for Apple. They simply treated us like kings. At the end of the long day of waiting and shooting, they took the last few of us to a 5 star restaurant on the wharf. They were fascinating. Twenty-two and twenty-three years of age respectively and they were on their game. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought they'd had at least twenty years in the industry. They had barely six. I have the utmost respect for their instinct and the drive with which they craft it into reality. Quality people all around.<hr></blockquote>

Why are the people in the switch ads lying?

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