Bake Sale = Actually a Good Idea?

Ah yes, the witty, hipper-than-thou Mac vs. PC commercials that typecast PC users as foolish, stuffy businessmen and Mac users as cool, young, swingin' renegades that wear preppy sweaters and want to chill with you at Starbucks to chatternize about their independent film company or their novel or their jeans from the Gap.

But these are starting to get personal; Mac is drawing viewer's attention to the flaws in Vista to boost their own sales. I generally disapprove of advertising that antagonizes another company, but look, Mac guy is so nice, he takes a cupcake! And his sweater is so dapper, how can we hate him?

My real problem with this commercial, though, is the blatant hypocrisy. Let's keep in mind that these ads were a predecessor to the "I'm a PC" ads (that were a response to these ads). Mac is just as guilty as "putting too much money into advertising" as PC is. How much do you think they paid John Hodgman and Justin Long to do these? Also, PC's response commercials use relatively real people. Though I don't have the figures necessary to compair actual values spent on advertising, but it's a little shoddy to accuse someone of spending to much on advertising in an advertisement.

I'd also like to take this time to point out that PC's character is much more lovable than Mac's. Hodgmen has more of a reputation as an actor, he's funnier, and it seems to me as if his performance almost says, "This is ridiculous, go buy a PC." But that's just me.

Besides, who doesn't love a bake sale?