Switch Parody

November 26, 2002 9:44 AM

Apple's own 'Switch' parody ads with Will Ferrell.
posted by Sal Amander (27 comments total)

Wow - those are remarkably unfunny.
posted by willnot at 10:06 AM on November 26, 2002

I thought the were both pretty good. I liked it when Ferrell talked about his iPod playlist "984 christmas songs (pause) about a dozen Doobie Brothers (longer pause, embarassed look) and one Sheryl Crow." Classic.
posted by pjgulliver at 10:10 AM on November 26, 2002

I come to Metafilter not to be bombarded with the shameless advertising that all you mindless sheep succumb to as you gorge on your Big Macs!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE! YOUR MINDS ARE NOT YOUR OWN!!! ADVERTISING? BAD!

*snicker*
posted by Stan Chin at 10:12 AM on November 26, 2002

I can't decide if he was just being funny Will Ferrel, or if he came to the shoot drunk. He just seemed a little off.

Still funny as hell though. I loved the second one--got a nice shot of him wearing Nikes in a Santa suit. He never stops being funny.
posted by gramcracker at 10:15 AM on November 26, 2002

The Ferrell ads are the best. Will they make me switch to a Mac? No. But they do entertain...
posted by MediaMan at 10:30 AM on November 26, 2002

In honor of this post, I will happily be spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas afternoon downloading windows drivers.
posted by Zoyd Wheeler at 10:34 AM on November 26, 2002

I will be happily watching that switch ad with the hot blonde chick that Zoyd is referencing. Grrrowl!
posted by Hildago at 11:41 AM on November 26, 2002

In honor of this post, I will happily be spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas afternoon downloading windows drivers.

And since I have a Mac, I'll have no need to be downloading any of these so-called 'drivers', and shall instead go and frolic merrily in the snow. Yay!
posted by zygoticmynci at 11:46 AM on November 26, 2002

Will Ferrell also did a switch parody for the MacWorld Expo NYC 2002.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:21 PM on November 26, 2002

And we thought he wouldn't have a career after quitting SNL.
posted by dhartung at 12:30 PM on November 26, 2002

has anyone considered putting together a list of all known parody switch ads?
posted by mhaw at 12:34 PM on November 26, 2002

dhartung, if it hadn't been for your post I wouldn't have known who the heck Will Ferrell is.

I looked at one, didn't laugh, and bailed on trying the other. Ellen Feiss has spoiled me, I guess.
posted by alumshubby at 12:56 PM on November 26, 2002

what's the deal with this ellen feiss girl? she's not that cute...
posted by lotsofno at 1:13 PM on November 26, 2002

I don't get it. This is a great mystery for me: Why do people think Will Ferrell is funny?
posted by stopgap at 1:19 PM on November 26, 2002

"Santa got his ass handed to him"

Classic. Really. It was funny.
posted by rich at 1:23 PM on November 26, 2002

Don't mess with Ferrell. The best. SNL cast member. Ever. If you ever saw him playing the devil, bargaining for the soul of Garth Brook with a guaranteed hit song, you would understand his genius. He rarely missed. And when he did, he missed with absurd gusto. (Of course, Brian Fellows is also preternatural genius.)
posted by jacknose at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2002

The ads were fairly unfunny, but that is not typical of Will Ferrell, stopgap. He pretty much carried SNL during the latter years of his tenure there.

Ever seen the "More Cowbell" sketch? The sketches he did with Rachel Dratch as "Luvahs"? The "Dog Show" sketches? The "Dissing Your Dog" commercial? There are many times that sketches would have completely bombed without him being in them, and ad libbing as necessary.

Humor is pretty subjective though. . .
posted by BrandonAbell at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2002

Love Ferrell. He was great in Zoolander, I thought. And he did a great lidded confused Bush.
posted by Wood at 2:12 PM on November 26, 2002

Do these even count as "parodies" of the Switch ads? I mean, they don't really lampoon the concept of "switching", or the content of the original ads. It's pretty much just Will Ferrell in a crappy Santa suit looking a little toasted. Which is kinda funny, but IMO Ferrell was funnier impersonating Neil Diamond in a Gap ad last year.
posted by monosyllabic at 2:31 PM on November 26, 2002

From the point of view of someone who's worked in advertising for a long time , I think these fairly suck. That said, I think the 'Switch' stuff is some of the most effective stuff Apple has done in years. And, as a long-time Mac person, I, for one, hope it works. Viva la pomme.
posted by hobocode at 4:06 PM on November 26, 2002

I've actually starting reading threads about Apple more just to see people get upset about them. I still can't understand it: See link about apple. Click. Share views about hating Apple. Repeat tomorrow. This thread, having almost nothing to do with Apple, still didn't disappoint.

And I thought the Mac lovers had no lives!
posted by jragon at 4:21 PM on November 26, 2002

"Kill the Malaysian Prime Minister!"

Will Ferrell was a shining star on what's been an insanely crappy SNL these past few years (Tina Fey - you stink!)

The guy who's the "new Bush" on SNL stinks up the wazoo. I bet Darrell Hammond could do a better job, but his Gore/Cheney/Koppel/Chris Matthews rocks.
posted by owillis at 5:55 PM on November 26, 2002

They may suck, but they've gotten better looking. Go Tina Fey!
posted by Wood at 6:15 PM on November 26, 2002

I think these are more Apple rubbing in tehir cool image compared with a third world sweatshop operation like Dell. But whatever, it's still quite funny
posted by Space Coyote at 8:35 PM on November 26, 2002

Don't mess with Ferrell. The best. SNL cast member. Ever.

Be careful what you say, jacknose. You're treading on to thin ice when you make statements like that and don't at least give a shout out to the true genius of SNL.
posted by grum@work at 11:11 AM on November 27, 2002

"Perhaps you've seen me in such films as..."
posted by owillis at 1:25 PM on November 27, 2002

Another parody, no Will Ferrell.

"I guess it's like a unix computer or something."
posted by Wet Spot at 4:58 PM on November 27, 2002