Droid vs. iPhone: Verizon Escalates Attacks in Latest Ad

Once again, Verizon is bashing away at the iPhone in a commercial -- one that places an animated iPhone lookalike on the Island of Misfit Toys from the classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" TV special:

For entertainment value and diligent recreation of the Rankin-Bass studio's stop-motion puppetry style, this ad gets an A. I do wonder, however, just how effective a marketing strategy it is to paint the iPhone as an unloved loser -- we're talking about a gizmo with astounding levels of consumer satisfaction. The Droid is a nifty phone overall, but it has a long way to go before it matches the iPhone's sales stats and consumer approval.

Of course, the real message of this ad is that Verizon has far more 3G coverage than AT&T. Wonder whether AT&T will feel like suing over this spot, too?

Verizon also has a couple of other Christmas-themed AT&T-attacking commercials, which you can see over at Engadget. The gist is similar, but they're nowhere near as amusing as this one...