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27 Comments

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Why Is Microsoft Comparing Its Salespeople To Rapists?

By Jonathan Goldsbie

2008_10_30PerpleHaze.jpg
It’s like a bunch of ad executives got together in a boardroom and decided “You know what gets the kids’ attention these days? Community alerts about sexual predators!” It’s like that old joke “SEX—Now that I have your attention…” except replace SEX with RAPIST or PROWLER or some other such thing.
2008_10_30Description.jpgYou could argue, we suppose, that the ad isn’t necessarily alluding to that particular sort of criminal, but the composite sketch, the “This man has been spotted on campus,” and the way the physical description is structured certainly play to the phrases and imagery associated with a specific type of bulletin. These posters, spotted on Spadina Road just north of Bloor, are especially tasteless in light of this [PDF] and this [PDF] within the last two months. (The suspect in the former has since been arrested.)

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  • Gauldar

    Microsoft has alot of money to shell out, and I’m sure you’ve heard those ads on the radio where if you target a person involved in software piracy and “bring them in”, and you can get a cash reward. Could be a great way to fund yourself through university.

  • spacejack

    Someone needs to re-imagine the old Cheech and Chong skit where a student turns in a fellow student for being a drug dealer.

  • rek

    As long as it’s “genuine” and not “pirated”.

  • cdv

    I bet this ad wouldn’t have worked so well if the “purp” weren’t white. Because he’s a clean cut white guy people stop long enough to figure out that it’s just a silly ad. If he were a minority in a hoodie people would just glance at it and keep on walking. This ad is pretty tasteless on a number of levels.

  • canuck1975

    Stick some sunglasses on him and pull up the hood; now he’s the Unabomber!
    This “idea” is completely rancid.

  • Gauldar

    It’s not the Unabomber! It’s Weird Al Yankovic!

  • corky

    Thanks, AGAIN, Torontoist, for giving another big company some free publicity.
    Why do ppl fall for their (i.e., the marketing dept) trap? And why am I even commenting on such a stupid topic?

  • rek

    Someone should say it: If you’re paying 9% on retail for software, you must not have any friends.

  • andrew

    Say, that reminds me…rek, you’re my friend, right?

  • Gauldar

    corky,
    Seriously? M$ doesn’t need marketing anymore, this is as much a marketing scheme as saying the word “office” in a fart joke.

  • canuck1975

    Are we in an Amish Paradise after-all?

  • Jonathan Goldsbie

    corky: I generally blur the name of a company or product when I do a post like this (especially if I object to the ad’s medium), but in this case I decided that the association of the word “Microsoft” with the word “rapist” (which is the implication of the ad, anyway) cannot possibly result in a net gain for them, publicity-wise.

  • paigesix

    Uhhh did I miss the part where you actually have proof that this is an ad campaign and not an actual police report for someone selling pirated software??

  • Marc Lostracco

    The mass production of them on glossy poster stock and tiled all over construction hoarding downtown? Plus the ® after Microsoft? The 91% statistic? The crooked smile? Not being on the news? Offering genuine software at a discounted price, which is not illegal?

  • Gloria

    I doubt the police would care what edition of the software was being sold.

  • rek

    I’m confused. At first I assumed it was part of their anti-piracy push from a week back, then I thought it was some sort of student discount they were hocking, and now I just don’t know.

  • nate88

    i actually think it’s an effective ad.
    whether it’s tasteful or not is irrelevant. de gustibus…

  • mexxonator

    But this isn’t referring to Microsoft’s own salespeople….
    It seems pretty clear to me that they’re referring to people who sell pirated software, and comparing them to criminals.
    As for offensiveness… I really can’t imagine anyone being offended by this. I think it’s pretty well done!

  • rek

    Comparing pirates (the actual kind, who sell copies, not the fake kind who just make copies) to rapists is kind of offensive.

  • David Topping

    @mexxonator, rek, paige: I don’t know why you all think this is another but a legitimate ad, by Microsoft, for Microsoft. Like many other tech retailers, they offer massive discounts for students: check out the cheap price list for U of T students. Or, as Marc mentioned like ten replies ago, look at the language used. Why on earth would an anti-piracy ad feature a smiling dude offering “genuine Microsoft software…to students for 91% less than the estimated retail price”? Sigh.

  • mexxonator

    Well that’s a good point… the word “genuine” clearly gives it away. Aside from that though I would never have guessed… so I guess this is pretty confusing. I would never have assumed that this was some sort of police flyer, but I figured it was supposed to make people realize that a regular looking person who pirates software is a criminal on the same level as any other (or so they might suggest). Therefore, the fact that he’s “smiling” or the fact that it’s mass produced and probably done by Microsoft doesn’t make it obvious that it’s not an anti-piracy ad. In fact, I think it would have made a lot of sense as an anti-piracy message, minus the word “genuine”.
    So I guess it’s pointless to ask this question since I’m sure no one really knows what it’s saying… but is there actually a Microsoft guy who looks like this, walking around campus trying to sell software? Weird…

  • jennyfish

    Oh my my, the bad taste of putting this ad up after the recent attack (let alone any time) is so ridiculous that I can’t even believe it…
    On a side note…Hello people…if this was a real poster for some sort of wanted piracy bad dude don’t you think they would put some sort of contact info for you to report him…
    Dang…his smile is creepin me out…

  • jennyfish

    lol…just noticed the height description 5.7 – 6.3…

  • canuck1975

    Hmm… I guess that only white men, 5’7-6’3 are allowed to sell Microsoft products at 91% off. The rest of you have to go through traditional channels. You know. Torrents. The Library. Friends.

  • David Topping

    @mexxonator:
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    ……………………………..,here’s Microsoft’s official campus promotion for Office Ultimate 2007, where the program is being sold to current students for…91% less than the estimated retail price. And so it goes.

  • rek

    David – The ad isn’t clearly one way or the other at first glance. Omit or change the word “genuine” and it’s an anti-piracy ad, and even if left stet it doesn’t scream student discount because the visual is very much “this man is a criminal”.

  • StayMaitland

    this Guy sort of reminds me of Charlie Bartlett