Microsoft changed demographics with its third addition to its Laptop Hunters ad campaign. This time, Mom Lisa and 11 year-old Jackson go off to shop for a laptop under $1500, using the same Mac-bashing template as the previous ads.

The pair is looking for a computer with "speed, a big hard drive" and a good gaming machine under $1500, for which Microsoft kindly offers to pay. Lisa and Jackson rush off to BestBuy where they look at a few laptops, including some Macs.

"Let's go see the Macs, they're kinda popular at this age," says mom Lisa. But "these are way more money, dude," she continues. Eleven-year-old Jackson thinks the white MacBooks are "a little bit too small. Maybe we'd rather go PC." And so the story ends with the two buying a $900 16" Sony VAIO equipped with Blu-ray.

New ad, same style

Continuing the tradition of the Laptop Hunters ads featuring Lauren and Giampaolo, the third Microsoft ad does not mention Windows or make the operating system a selling point. Comparing only the specifications/price ratio with Macs and leaving aside the OS, has spurred much of the criticism of the campaign.

But worth mentioning is how long it took Lisa and Jackson to shop around for their new laptop. At the beginning of the ad, the protagonists are in front of BestBuy in bright daylight while at the end they stand outside the shop in darkness. I guess choosing a PC didn't go so fast for these two ...

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