Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

25 Years Of Horrible, Hilarious Microsoft Ads

by Leila Brillson on September 30, 2009 at 08:05 AM


[Disclaimer: The writer of this post is a pure-bred Mac addict, and will probably continue to be so for the rest of her life.] Regardless of whether PCs or Apples are your thing, it's hard to argue against the fact that Microsoft has aired some truly bizarre, awkward, and downright bad advertisements over the past few decades. Sure, the PC vs. Mac commercials have gotten tedious, but Apple has historically leaned towards pop-inspired, music-and-dance promos while Bill Gates & Co. are admittedly, well... weird.

The Guardian has collected a series of the worst Microsoft ads of all time, starting from 1986 and ending at the now-circulating guide to hosting your own Windows 7 launch party. (No, seriously.) Highlights include a Windows '95 ad featuring a mind-blowingly bad character actor, and the above Windows 386 'music video' starring a blonde administrator rapping about databases and then going on (what must be) a drug-fueled rampage. Of course, there are also the disgusting, wannabe-viral Dean Cain ads, involving bad sweaters and vomit.

Apple's '1984' commercial is now campy and overdramatic, but at least it doesn't feature the phrase: "Stand back, William, stand b-b-b-back -- Windows 386 is on the ATTACK!" [Guardian.co.uk]

Tags: ads, advertising, commercials, funny, microsoft, top, weird, windows

Comments

3

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular