Google’s new Chromebook ads takes big shots at both Windows and macOS

Arif Bacchus

If you’ve been following tech for a while, you likely remember Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, and maybe even Microsoft’s “Scroogled” ads. In both instances, the tech giants were mocking their rivals— Apple taunting Microsoft’s Windows, and Microsoft attempting to mock Google’s search engine. Well, fast forward to 2018 and Google is bringing back the hate and mocking both Apple and Microsoft with a new Chromebook ad.

Google’s latest ad mocks older versions of Windows by throwing up “fake” error screens and even a fake Blue Screen of Death. We see tons of errors from Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, but Windows 10 is not put in focus for longer than 2 seconds (at the 0:18 mark.) There’s even a piece where we see a fake tech support scam pop up on the screen, and hear “a serious error has occurred” on a loop.

The search engine giant also mimics Apple’s macOS with similar popups messages about disc errors. They also throw in the infamous “App Updates are available” pop up notification, and the “Application quit unexpectedly” error too.

These various segments essentially tell users that if you don’t error screens, and want a laptop you can count on, buy a Chromebook. It’s fun marketing yes, but it would have been more interesting if Google specifically targetted Windows 10, the most secure and current version of Windows where these errors are less common.