A: Advertising men.

In the 1910s and particularly the 1920s, advertising agents focused their attention on identifying—and often inventing—personal anxieties that could be resolved by the purchase of specific products. “Advertising,” wrote one commentator in a trade publication, “helps to keep the masses dissatisfied with their mode of life, discontented with ugly things around them. Satisfied customers are not as profitable as discontented ones.” Advertisers, as historian Stuart Ewen notes, tried to endow people with a “critical self-consciousness” directed especially at their personal appearances. Read more.

Interesting, right? Well, I’m not saying we should change our way of life now, I just want to compare this to something else. Mac vs. PC.

This conflict was invented, as far as I know. I never knew of the term “Mac vs. PC” before Apple came out with the annoying commercials – and now after a few years of Apple doing it, Microsoft have gone and made an even worse attempt at creating conflict with these commercials: 1, 2, 3, 4.

I’m not saying there’s something wrong with a little competition, and since Apple started it I wouldn’t want to see Microsoft continue laying down and taking it without a little retaliation, and hey, the laptop hunters ads seemed to have worked.

Want to know what I’m most sick of though? “Mac vs. PC”. PC stands for Personal Computer. A Mac is a personal computer. People need to start saying Mac vs. Windows or something of that sort if they want to hold up with this petty squabbling.

I for one have used a “PC” all my life up until recently when I have had to start using a Mac occasionally at TAFE, and I don’t really mind it. The Macs at TAFE are considerably old (about 5 years) so it is understandable that they are a bit slow, as is my Windows machine. Want to know what I find annoying about the Mac? The Spinning Beachball of Doom, which happens more often than a BSOD.

Both have their pros and cons, I’m just one of those people that are indifferent. I won’t say either is better. I’m not an Apple fanboy, and I’m certainly not a Microsoft fanboy, I’m a “PC” with an iPhone, and I enjoy them both.

End rant.

Return Home...