iMac

Pros: gets your attention, can relate to the frustration
Cons: makes the wrong point/ guns are too sensitive an issue right now

The reason I feel that you should NOT air this ad is that the point it seems to be making is that if you feel something doesn't work, one way of dealing with your frustration is to violently destroy the product with a firearm.

If the purpose...

Pros: increases awareness
Cons: "if you don't like it, shoot it" attitude

Before everyone starts criticizing the iMac ad, let's take a look at what epinions.com is attempting to do. Epinions is a relatively new website that has managed to grow via banner ads, word of mouth, and referrals. Now epinions wants to hit a larger...

Pros: it grabs the viewer with attention getting
Cons: none in my book

This commercial is an ad that will catch the viewers eyes and that is the whole idea of advertising.

I used to work as a copywriter and this is the kind of commercial ideas we would want to have come across our desks. It is doing what it is...

Pros: Good example of safe handgun use, great shock value commercial, foreshadowing of the death of a Beanie Baby.
Cons: Some bad cuts from scene to scene, iMac looks too "light" on the hanger (looks like screen was removed and replaced with a sheet of plastic).

First of all, let me say that I love Macintosh computers and the iMac. Then again, I love all computers. Since I run a Web hosting provider out of my basement, I have quite a collection of Mac OS, Linux, OpenBSD, OpenSTEP and Windows machines. My wife...

Pros: Great concept, but is not culturally and politically correct for now,
Cons: The shooting can get on people's nerves

Is this ad an attention-getter? Yes. How will it fare in the collective mind? Now that's the question. Does Epinions.com want to be known as the rest of the gun-slinging media? It all depends on how you want the company to be depicted or cast. Keep...

Pros: Interesting and humorous. Maybe can let the audience realize Epinions.com doesn't stand for the company but for them.
Cons: It may cause lots of iMac users' resentment and since Epinions.com doesn't take Apple as its competitor, why risks to do the counter-marketing?

Of course, I adore Epinions.com as the place where all customers can express their unique experience here. However, the commercial of Epinions.com is something which its public image would be based on, and so I am absolutely against this ad. Maybe the ad...

Pros: Original, and attention getting
Cons: Not suitable for children

First I would like to start off by commenting on a few issues I have with Jay's letter to the epinions community about his commercial.

Jays words: I shoot a legal handgun, in a controlled environment, with eye and hearing protection, at...

Pros: Appealing setting; funny, engaging result; good for generating new visitors/members
Cons: Gun usage WILL spark controversy (no question), but a little notoriety can make Epinions.com a household name!

Epinions.com iMac Commercial
Grade: B+

I like this one a lot. The only thing that stops this one from getting five stars is the current buzz around gun control and media portrayal, stemming from the misfortune in Michigan with the...

Pros: demonstrates that at Epinions, you can tell it like it is. Epinions is a source for real product reviews from real users
Cons: gun, violence against defenseless, inanimate object

This ad very clearly demonstrates the essence of Epinions. Like Jay says, he used to work at a computer store and could never say how he really felt. But at Epinions, Jay can say exactly what he thinks, no matter how brutal. Sometimes we love the...

Pros: shock humour
Cons: represents violent tendancies

Wow! If this ad doesn't catch the public's attention...it sure has caught ours! And that is exactly what a responsible, hard-working marketing person is aiming for, right? Attention at all costs.

Well...just like children, we can get good...

Pros: funny, effective, gets your attention
Cons: controversial (but this may be a good thing?)

I, for one, liked the commercial. I think it does what it is meant to do.. get your attention. And I think even if people ARE offended by the commercial, they'll at least remember the name, which is what advertising is all about, isn't it?

...

Pros: Effective use of advertising funds, light-hearted dark humor
Cons: Are we really qualified to review commercials, or are the uncomfortable responses "successful" ones in a branding campaign as well?

Get with the program folks, this is parody and satire in its most basic form, not a gunfight being proposed on the Barney show! What's the formula? Pick a topic people are uncomfortable about (such as computers or guns) to capture their...

Pros: It might upset some people enough to see what epinions is about.
Cons: It insults iMac users and it is very unoriginal unlike epinions itself.

Shooting up a computer on TV has been done before. I've seen commercials where the bad computer faces a firing squad, gets run over by a tank, and even one where the offending computer gets hurled out of the fourth story of a building. The lack of...

Pros: FUNNY!
Cons: Not for all channels

I really liked this commercial. It is shame that most people do not seem to feel the same, but by glancing through the different epinions written, it seems as if this commercial congers up either the "Love it or hate it" emotions.

...

Pros: I'll get back to you on this one.
Cons: It displays destruction and the use of weapons.

Well, this was a bit much. Even though I agree with what Jay had to say about the iMac, (not from personal experience, but that of a friend) using a weapon to demonstrate the worth of the computer is to extreme. At this time, the issue of guns would ruin...