First Microsoft/Seinfeld Ad Bombs

Sam Gustin says: If this is what Microsoft is paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million for, they might as well have thrown that money out the window.

Kicking off its $300 million ad campaign to promote Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system, NBC aired a 90 second Microsoft ad starring Seinfeld and Bill Gates during the New York Giants 16-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in the NFL season opener. The ad is the first offering in the campaign from the supposedly "edgy" ad firm Crispin, Porter and Bogusky

Entitled "Shoe Circus," the spot would have made a French surrealist proud -- perhaps a lit-crit major can divine its meaning for the rest of us.

The entire thing consists of Seinfeld and Gates talking about shoes inside a discount shoe store, being gawked at by a Spanish speaking family, and then walking out to the parking lot. Jerry offers Bill a churro and asks, "Are they ever gonna come out with something that'll make our computers moist and chewy like cakes so we can just eat them while we're working? If it's yes, adjust your shorts." Gates does the weakest impression of "The Twist" on record.

Jingly music. "The Future. Delicious." Microsoft logo.

Fin.



Early reaction from the web was not favorable:

VentureBeat: "It's really not very good."
Gizmodo: "Makes no sense."
ZDNet: "Was this ad supposed to be funny?"
Todd Bishop: "Didn't even produce a little chuckle."
ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick: "An Arrogant Waste." (His colleague Sarah Perez liked it, though)