Surface Fan Spoofs Microsoft Response to Apple iPad Commercial

The Mac Observer is (collectively) a huge fan of Apple's iPad and iPad mini, but we are happy to tip our hat to a very entertaining spoof offered up by a fan of Microsoft's new Surface tablet. Forest Gibson posted a spoof response to Apple's current iPad and iPad mini commercial that we think is pretty clever.

Check it out:

Forest Gibson's Surface Spoof

That's some funny stuff! Nice work, Mr. Gibson.

Of course, we can't help but take the opportunity to deconstruct it, because that's the sort of thing we do. Let's start with why it's funny and entertaining, or more specifically why it's already garnered 200,000 views on YouTube in just a few hours.

It's full of attitude, action, thrills, and something that's frankly younger than Apple's iPad commercial. From our position, Apple's commercial is aimed at parents, or at the least, adults. As such, its message of showing the two iPads side by side and showing something that can be done with them is quiet, understated, and is all the more powerful for how quiet it is.

Apple's iPad Commercial

Apple iPad Commercial

Mr. Gibson's spoof takes a chainsaw to those sensibilities, which makes it far more appealing to a younger crowd. The Surface literally flies circles around the iPad and it takes a drive-by smash at the iPad in the process. It's loud, boisterous, fast, and it zooms around the screen without any regards to boundaries or rules.

NO RRRRRUUUUULLLLLEEEESSSSS!!!!

NO RUUUUULLLLLEEEEESSSSS!

Again, that makes it very entertaining, very fun, especially contrasted with Apple's targeted message.

That said, Mr. Gibson took it out of the world of what could have been an actual commercial into spoofsville when the Surface slices off the mechanical arm of the robot iPad user, the sort of violent imagery corporate giants would never employ. That's OK, it's still funny.

As John Martellaro commented internally, it seems like a missed opportunity for Big Redmond.

Wait, one more comment, there's a little irony in the spoof, too. The video shows a ton of attitude, vim, vigor, and youthful rebellion, but Microsoft is actually positioning the Surface as something a lot more pedestrian.

The two biggest selling points of the RT version of Surface are a keyboard that anchors it to the past and Office, the staid productivity suite that speaks of cubicles, awful slide presentations, and spreadsheets.

Maybe that's Microsoft's missed opportunity. This spoof is far more entertaining and interesting than anything we've seen from Microsoft itself. Perhaps that because Mr. Gibson is looking at Surface the way he wants to use it, as a fun device, a touch device for doing fun things. Note that the keyboard Microsoft is so convinced is a good thing doesn't even make a cameo in the spoof.

Microsoft, on the other hand, looks at Surface with one foot standing in its legacy Windows empire desperate to perpetuate that legacy.