Jordan Hofker, Fargonaut

Microsoft's New Ads: An Explanation

“It was filled with irony, which is why most commentators on here missed it.  You have these two super rich dudes buying shoes at a discount shoe place. Seinfeld turning out to be an expert about the inconsequential, how to fit shoes - remember, he was the guy with the show about nothing.

Gates using his mug shot was a bit of self-deprication. The humour is high brow and subtle. The Spanish people not commenting on Gates and Seinfeld, but knowing the model of the shoe.

The “pitch” comes at the end. Seinfeld takes a Trek-Geek shot at Gates about mind-melding and asks when Microsoft is going to come out with something that has all those “comfort” features. And Gates says they already have and they go to the Windows logo - which is one of the top five most recogniseable logos in the world.

The message is that Windows is “comfort food”. Cakey, delicious, goodness. The subtlety again is that they don’t have to take shots at the competition - chocolate cake doesn’t taste any better because its not vanilla.

Is it a bit to high brow and weird, a little. But it is good fun when you watch it for what it is and not expecting it to be a Jerry Seinfeld monologue, a Windows ad or a shot at the Mac/PC Guy ads. “

Now, there’s no way I could have ever explained that, but I definitely liked the ad.