The new Microsoft commercial, featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates out discount shoe shopping, was unveiled Thursday night on TV. By Friday morning, it had zoomed to the top reaches of YouTube's most-viewed list.
The nation momentarily put aside its Sarah Palin obsession to ponder, and mostly condemn, the cryptic 90-second spot from controversial ad firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which made the commercial as part of a reported $300-million campaign for Microsoft. In blogs and comments sections all over the Web, rancorous opinions were unleashed.
Seemingly anticipating the lack of enthusiasm, Microsoft offered an explanation on its own site: "Some may wonder what Jerry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates pick out a new pair of shoes has to do with software," it said in part. "The answer, in the classic Seinfeld sense of the word, is nothing." The post forged ahead with, "Nevertheless, the spot is the first and most visible sign of an ambitious effort by Microsoft's Windows business to reconnect with consumers around the globe."
The spot's first problem is that it is not actually tapping into the "nothing" that Seinfeld was famously about. That was the "nothing" of "What'd you do today?" "Nothing." The show's innovation was showing everything the four neurotic friends did together. But the Microsoft spot's shoe-store vignette relies on unfunny, far-fetched details: Seinfeld asking Gates if he ever takes a shower with his clothes on, for example. Thunk.
The whole thing is chilly. It begins with Seinfeld walking past a discount shoe store called Shoe Circus, eating a churro. He is struck by the store's name and promise of quality shoes at great prices. Then he sees Bill Gates trying on shoes through the window and says, "Bill Gates!" as he walks inside to join the fun.
Let's start with the premise of these two famous rich people out discount shoe shopping. With economic news so grim right now, it's hard to find it amusing, even given the lore of Gates' coupon-clipping habit. (Ha, ha! These guys don't really have to shop for bargains like the half-million people who got laid off this year.)
Gates and Seinfeld may both be schlumpy dressers, but their regular-guy qualities stop there. Neither has a public image as the Warren Buffett kind of rich, the frugal sort who knows the value of a dollar and doesn't put himself or his whims ahead of the common person (or so we believe about Buffett). Instead, the ad seems to be making light of bargain shopping, as if it's a lark for these guys or some kind of private joke we're not quite in on.
