Nearly two decades ago, Long praised the benefits of Mac computers while playing one against John Hodgman’s PC in Apple’s iconic “Get a Mac” ad. Now, in a pointyprick up AppleAAPL, Long is featured in a novel IntelINTC ad where he seems to be much more excited about new Intel-based PCs than the latest Mac laptops.
“Hi, I’m – Justin. Just a real person, making a real comparison between Mac and PC,” says Long in the new Intel commercial, an obvious play on the “Hello, I’m a Mac” – intro to the old Apple ads.
“These are all PCs,” Long says as he examines a collection of laptops in the new ad. “Oh yes, Intel! Nice. My face just unlocked that, that’s so cool. And I’ve never seen a screen like this on a laptop.”
He goes on to look at the Mac lineup: “So these are the newer Macs? Okay. So gray and grayer.”
The new commercial is the latest exchange of not-so-friendly fire between Intel and Apple in recent months.
Last fall, Apple changed from Intel customer to competitor when it replaced the semiconductor giant’s x86 chips with its own M1 chips in the latest Mac series. Apple claimed its new chipsMake Macs significantly faster, quieter and give them longer battery life compared to previous Mac models and competing laptops.
In fact, the iPhone maker’s idea was to revive the theme of the old Apple ads. When Apple announced the new M1 Macs in November, Apple brought back Hodgman to once again star as “PC guy” in a new ad.
“Hi, I’m a PC,” Hodgman said in Apple’s November ad. ‘Is there a time for questions? Good, because I have one. Why? Why make all these advancements? What’s the point? ‘
Moves like Apple’s to make its own chips pose a real threat to Intel, which has long relied on dominating the PC business. In recent years, Intel has lost market share in the PC market, among other things, and the company recently hired new CEO Pat Gelsinger to help straighten the ship.
At an Intel staff meeting in January, after Gelsinger was named new CEO but before officially taking the role, he told employees that the company must “deliver better products” for PCs than anything that “a lifestyle company in Cupertino” makes a likely reference to Apple, according to a report by The Oregonian.
The new commercial may be another indicator of how aggressively Gelsinger plans to counter Apple and other competitors as he tries to bring Intel back to its former glory. Whether the ad convinces people to buy more PCs remains to be seen, but at least Intel now has Long’s backing.
