Apple Switch ad campaign

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Switch was an advertising campaign launched by Apple Computer on June 10, 2002. It featured what the company referred to as "real people" who had "switched" from the Microsoft Windows platform to the Mac. An international television and print ad campaign directed users to a website where various myths about the Mac platform were dispelled and disseminated. The television commercials were directed by Errol Morris.

1 Switchers
2 Campaign
3 See Also
4 External links

[edit] Switchers

One of the people who appeared in the commercials, Ellen Feiss, gained immense popularity overnight in a kind of Internet phenomenon. (Feiss was a friend of Morris's son Hamilton Morris, who also appeared in a commercial. [1])

Localized versions of the commercials, with local "switchers", aired in Iceland and Japan.

Certain ads featured celebrities, such as Tony Hawk, DJ Q-Bert, Yo-Yo Ma, Kelly Slater, Will Ferrell, and the members of De La Soul.

The American Switchers featured are:

Aaron Adams
Alex Schoknecht
Andy Skowronski
Bill Swan
Damon Wright
Dave Haxton
David Carey
De La Soul
Dianne Druyff
DJ Q-Bert
Ellen Feiss
Fabiola Torres
Gautam Godse
Gianni Jacklone
Hamilton Morris
Janie Porche
Jentry Poss
Jeremiah Cohick
Juan Proaño
Kelly Slater
Liza Richardson
Mark Frauenfelder
Mark Gibson
Patrick Gant
Richard Ziskin
Sarah Whistler
Tess Bethune
Theresa McPherson
Tony Hawk
Will Ferrell
Yo Yo Ma

The Japanese Switchers featured are:

Hiroatsu Takekura
Keiko Tamura
Keisuke Hanafusa
Kiminori Hirose
Momoko Kikuchi
Nobuyuki Shiba
Satoru Yokouchi
Seiji Hongo

American Switchers (not officially released):

Andrea Keller
Aaron Oswald
Bill West
Chris Kasick
Christopher Guest
Dan Goodis
Daniel Clowes
Douglas Rushkoff
Laura Lindgren
Jeremy Schwed
Marleny Gotrim
Mary Ellen Taylor
Mo Liebowitz
Perry Farrell
Rick Rosner
Simone Austin
Wanda Sykes

[edit] Campaign

The Switch campaign was gradually phased out, and replaced with the silhouette campaign.

Due to the simplicity of the ad, many parodies surfaced on the net shortly after the campaign started. Most of the parodies lamented features they had lost due to the switch, such as the ability to play popular games and use of the right mouse button. One of the parodies was created by Microsoft, titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert", but Microsoft was forced to stop distribution because it was found to be non-factual, even to the point of having a stock photograph used. [2]

The background music of the Switch Ads is "Spit" by John Murphy.