Microsoft's "Pawn Stars" commercial is the most disgusting running this season

[Rosco T.]

33. Also incase you're interested.. the Advertising Industry's reaction to the ad...

http://marketingland.com/microsoft-scroogled-pawn-stars-chromebooks-66522

Microsoft’s Scroogled Campaign Hits New Low, Uses “Pawn Stars” Guys To Attack Chromebooks

"Wow. How sad.” That was my reaction to watching the latest in Microsoft’s Scroogled campaign against Google, this time using two of the stars from Pawn Stars to attack Chromebooks as not “real laptops” and part of Google’s overall plan to “Scroogle” people.

I’m struggling to understand how the geniuses behind the Scroogled campaign thought going after Chromebooks as somehow Google misleading people was a great idea. But to me — and I’m a big Pawn Stars fan — it comes off as weak and even desperate.

(snip)

If we’re talking ads, Windows 8 has new giant “Hero Ads” that show up baked into the operating system, an extension of other ad options in Windows 8 that people can buy. You can’t buy ads baked into Chromebooks. You just get them the old-fashioned way — in your browser.

(snip)

A Scroogled Too Far

Overall, if Microsoft wanted to run a campaign comparing how Windows laptops are more versatile than Chromebooks, that would have been fair — and perhaps powerful. Even the Pawn Stars segment would have been great, in many ways. But when it starts falling into this somehow being an attempt by Google to “Scroogle” people, what’s next? Is the iPad an attempt by Apple to Scroogle people because it, also, can’t do all the things that a traditional laptop can? Bringing in the Scroogled message just cheapens the message, to me.