brinshannara | Heh, an epiphany.

So, in studying the Get a Mac campaign as well as my social theory...

PC is undermined in three separate ways.

1) His general lack of cool. Always wearing suits (41 of 46 commercials aired in the North American market show him in a suit and tie), glasses, etc.
2) He looks much older than he is. Did you know the guy who plays PC is only 37? Seriously. Mac is played by a guy who's 30, but is made to look younger, so the overall effect is a 20 year difference between them. And youth has more purchasing power in general.
3) Men are not generally the main purchasers in a household, according to my readings, or at least haven't been, historically. It's the woman of the house who does the shopping, who makes the decisions.

So even IF PC wasn't always bitching about Vista, which he is, we're still not going to take him seriously because he's not cool, he's old and because he doesn't do the purchasing in his household ANYWAYS.

Thinking back to growing up, it's totally true -- my dad bought electronic stuff, granted, but everything else was my mom's decision. If my dad went grocery shopping, he came home with ALL the wrong brands and types of food. Hell, my dad STILL makes mistakes in buying electronic stuff. He bought an HP computer. Who the hell buys HP COMPUTERS? Printers, sure, they're awesome, but I once knew someone who worked at HP and said she'd never buy an HP computer. Ever. And he did this AFTER I advised him against it. It's like I'm the woman of the house/family when it comes to computers. My poor dad has no purchase power whatsoever.

Wow. Poor Dad!