Hey Apple: Get a Life!

Apple Inc. could learn a lesson or two from Barack Obama. As far as I know, this weekend marks the second time that Apple has decided to pay for extremely obnoxious attack ads to be displayed on the main page of nytimes.com. No, the ads are not aimed at a certain candidate but they do maliciously go after Apple’s main competitor- Windows OS. [img_assist|nid=29249|title=Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers, Inc.|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=|height=0]When logging onto nytimes.com these days, you’re confronted by a prominent banner, which replaces important content on the site by broadcasting bad reviews of Windows’ new operating system, Vista. After these attacks end, the banner switches to a positive review of Apple’s OS X Leopard.
If Apple’s marketing department is trying to make a point, I don’t see where they going. Apple is widely seen as one of the most respected and high-quality brands in this country and does not need to engage in such classless mudslinging to prove that its products are better. Granted, Windows Vista was a complete bust- I have it and I hate it. But, there is no need for Apple to kick these people while they are down.
Tech people have been, and likely always will be, seen as people who are geniuses when it comes to code but terrible with interpersonal relations. The people at Apple, it seemed for a time, had apparently broken the mold. The products are warm and user-friendly and marketed in such a way where it’s just hard to say no. Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, is cool and mysterious with a gift for oration. This recent barrage of negative advertising is both uncalled for and sad. It is a surprising reminder that there still exists a tremendous amount of animosity in the industry and that these companies dislike each other so much that they’re willing to hurt themselves in order to make the other look bad. There is no reason to subject people to this immaturity and ugly competitiveness and I suggest that the people at Apple grow up and remove the ads from the site.
If this political season has told us anything, it’s that Americans have little tolerance left for nasty attacks and much prefer to know the good instead of the bad–look at Senator Obama! So to the people at Apple- you’re better than this, do the right thing and take those ads down!