Apple released four new ads in its "Get a Mac" campaign that address several selling points for Macs vs. PCs, but do not directly respond to Microsoft's campaign highlighting how expensive Apple computers are. Why? Because Macs are undeniably more expensive than PCs, and Apple cannot claim otherwise.

The new Apple ads deal (again) with the PCs susceptibility to viruses ("Biohazard Suit"); the complicated legal nature of PCs ("Legal Copy"); the facial recognition software included in iPhoto '09 ("Stacks"); and (again) PC reliability issues ("Time Traveler"). Besides a brief mention of expensive-sounding iPhoto software included in a Mac's base price, none of these ads even attempt a counterattack in Microsoft's price wars.

While Microsoft's ads claim Apple relies heavily on a "coolness" factor (even at a price), the real issue, as Apple sees it, is reliability and innovation. What's the value of purchasing a laptop on the cheap only to see it run the maintenance gambit due to a Conficker attack? Despite the recent outbreak of a Trojan horse turning Macs into zombies through a vulnerability in iWork '09, Apple computers are more reliable machines.

Avoiding the price wars is a smart move on Apple's part. If major companies began refuting every claim made against them in advertising, we'd be inundated with catty, whining 30-second clips that serve no function for the consumer beyond annoying us to death. This kind of offensive/defensive campaigning would cease to highlight a product's positive qualities, leaving consumers ignorant as to why they should purchase anything at all.