WorseThanFailure advertising WTF



  • So I noticed this ad today on the homepage and was a little thrown off by it. You can check it out here..it features a gangsta looking black "programmer" named Hoop. The first bit of copy says something like "What's it really like to work on zune?" This feels like they're begging the question that I have some preconceived notions about what working on zune is like, which would obviously be false. Then we're given a view of Hoop, the self claimed software developer and some lame branding campaign "View<myWorld>". I', wondering if this is some sort of reference to generics, or just really lame marketing. Microsoft has one of the worst marketing/advertising teams ever.

    Oh, and no one cares about the zune or Hoop... 



  • @kaamoss said:

    So I noticed this ad today on the homepage and was a little thrown off by it. You can check it out here..it features a gangsta looking black "programmer" named Hoop. The first bit of copy says something like "What's it really like to work on zune?" This feels like they're begging the question that I have some preconceived notions about what working on zune is like, which would obviously be false. Then we're given a view of Hoop, the self claimed software developer and some lame branding campaign "View<myWorld>". I', wondering if this is some sort of reference to generics, or just really lame marketing. Microsoft has one of the worst marketing/advertising teams ever.

    Oh, and no one cares about the zune or Hoop... 

    What is 'gangsta' looking about this guy?

     



  • Interestingly enough, statements like the OP here do not reflect the preconceived notions of the ad but rather the preconceived notions of the viewer.  Many people can see many different things giving the exact same incident.  This is why eye witness reports are not always to be taken as pure fact.  Your idea of what you are seeing is always a reflection of your past experience.



  • @KattMan said:

    Interestingly enough, statements like the OP here do not reflect the preconceived notions of the ad but rather the preconceived notions of the viewer.  Many people can see many different things giving the exact same incident.  This is why eye witness reports are not always to be taken as pure fact.  Your idea of what you are seeing is always a reflection of your past experience.

    Yeah I found that interesting. I look at the guy, and to me he looks like a new age dork. Likely to be spotted hanging out in an espresso bar, with his ipod on, and one of those courier backpacks...

    Hows that for detail?



  • Funny.  To me, he looked like the kind of guy who will travel 2,000 miles and pay $10,000 to eat a baboon's brains. 

    But who wouldn't?
     



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    What is 'gangsta' looking about this guy?

    The dress shirt and thin-framed eyeglasses. Obviously.
     



  • Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code



  • This guy's not "gangsta" by any means but I find it interesting that they're using a black developer to somehow give credibility to the Zune.  Are they trying to say the only reason the Zune is any good is because they had a black guy working there to keep the other guys from nerding it up?  Well, of course not, because that's just crazy.



  • @Outlaw Programmer said:

    This guy's not "gangsta" by any means...

    [url=http://www.doubleviking.com/whopper-freakout-ghetto-version--7541-p.html]THIS[/url] is gangsta*.

    *Not actually gangsta.



  • myWorld

    I thought at MS they were still using the Hungarian naming convention. If they aren't any more, I'm gonna buy that Zune.
    Yeah, that is the message.





  • @kaamoss said:

    Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code

    That says a lot that you were scared looking at that guy. Maybe you should talk to someone about it?



  • Ooh, the new little google ad box right above the sidebar is crafty too.  I almost clicked on it.



  • @kaamoss said:

    Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code

     

    TunnelRat?  That you? 



  • @merreborn said:

    @kaamoss said:

    Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code

    TunnelRat?  That you? 

    That's two people that have said his name!  Please not a third person or he will return to troll us into the new year! 



  • @Outlaw Programmer said:

    This guy's not "gangsta" by any means but I find it interesting that they're using a black developer to somehow give credibility to the Zune.  Are they trying to say the only reason the Zune is any good is because they had a black guy working there to keep the other guys from nerding it up?  Well, of course not, because that's just crazy.

    Well, the install "billboards" in VS2005 all featured persons "of color"...  (which implies that the Caucasians among us lack color, I guess...)



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    What is 'gangsta' looking about this guy?

    He's black.
     



  • @belgariontheking said:

    @merreborn said:

    @kaamoss said:

    Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code

    TunnelRat?  That you? 

    That's two people that have said his name!  Please not a third person or he will return to troll us into the new year! 

    Please use following phrases when speaking about the Dark One :

    He Who Must Not Be Named ...

    You Know Who ....

    TubeRodent ....

     



  • By quoting merreborn, you said it again! NOOOOOOOOOO...



  • @Nelle said:

    @belgariontheking said:
    @merreborn said:

    @kaamoss said:

    Well, for one, he's got cornrows, and an incredibly awkward smile... Maybe I was just in a bad mood but he looked more like he wanted to shiv me than write some enterprisey .NET code

    TunnelRat?  That you? 

    That's two people that have said his name!  Please not a third person or he will return to troll us into the new year! 

    Please use following phrases when speaking about the Dark One :

    He Who Must Not Be Named ...

    You Know Who ....

    TubeRodent ....

     

    TUNNELRAT! I've met him* and I'm calling him by his name.

    Fear of a name only increase fear of the thing itself, Nelle.

    *not really


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