A good commercial can make an emotional connection between the viewer and the product. On the other hand, a bad commercial can be pretty hilarious. Trying to pitch a technology offering in 30 seconds can be hit or miss; here are five ads that were very much miss.

1. Five technology commercials
that missed the mark
A good commercial can make an
emotional connection between the viewer
and the product.
On the other hand, a bad commercial can
be darned pretty hilarious.
Trying to pitch a technology offering in 30
seconds can be hit or miss; here are five
ads that were very much miss.
By Jeff Jedras
Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Commercials were often longer in
the 1980s, and Atari’s ad for its
iconic Poll Position car racing game
was 90 seconds long.
The game was a classic; the
commercial – not so much. Although
the narrator calling a man taking his
family for a Sunday drive “a real jerk”
was fun, before inserting them into
an explosive road race.
To quote the ad, it “will bust your
crack and leave skidmarks on your
soul.”
Atari “Pole Position” – 1980s

3. While Apple’s 1984-inspired commercial
for the Macintosh was inspired, its follow-
up for Macintosh Office was less so.
To a creepy rendition of It’s off to work we
go, blindfolded office workers mindlessly
follow each other in a line, walking off a
cliff, until one finally takes his blindfold off
and sees that Apple offers a better way.
And 30 years later, who are the lemmings
now?
Apple Macintosh Office
“Lemmings” – 1985

4. While Apple’s Lemmings ad of this
same year depicted other computers
as mindless tedium, this spot for the
Commodore 64 showed how fun they
can be.
From the kid writing code to the
teacher showing a poor graphical
representation of Saturn to her
students, they’re all having fun, and all
giving the “Commodore salute.”
They’d later double the fun with the
Commodore 64C – if that’s even
possible.
Commodore “Keeping up with
Commodore” -- 1985

5. Microsoft released a series of cloud
computing-themed ads to promote
Windows 7, and they all deserve an
honourable mention, but our winner is
set at an airport.
After a delayed flight, our protagonist
declares “to the cloud!” and accesses his
home desktop remotely to watch saved
TV programming. Nice feature, but not
cloud computing.
“Yeah, cloud!” his wife exclaims. Yeah,
again, not really.
Microsoft “To the cloud” – 2010

6. While 90 second ads are
uncommon these days, Facebook
went all-out with their 2012
Superbowl commercial.
Unfortunately, they really only had
enough concept for a 15 second
spot. So we get a slow, plodding
monologue about how chairs are
for sitting, and about how door
bells and airplanes and basketball
are like Facebook or something.
So much money wasted. Sorry,
Facebook IPO investors.
Facebook “The Things That
Connect Us” -- 2012