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Apple Mocks Windows PCs in Humorous New 'Blue Screen of Death' Ad

Apple today shared a new "Blue Screen of Death" ad that appears to mock a major Windows computer outage that occurred last year, following a faulty CrowdStrike security update. Macs were unaffected, and they were unlikely to ever be, as Apple has gradually restricted low-level access to the macOS operating system.


The humorous ad stars "The Underdogs," a fictional team of workers who overcome obstacles by using Apple products and features.

"The Underdogs are ready for their first-ever trade show until a PC outage strikes and the Blue Screen of Death threatens their beloved Container Con," says Apple, in the video's description. "Thanks to the security of their Apple products, the Underdogs are unaffected and experience extraordinary success."

In the video's description, there is a link to the security section of Apple's enterprise page, which says "kernel-level protection is designed to safeguard your system against breaches, outages, and unauthorized access."

"There's no security like Mac security," the ad concludes.

Apple began its "The Underdogs" series of ads in 2019, with the humorous and dramatized videos promoting everything from AirDrop to FaceTime over the years.

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Top Rated Comments

12 months ago
Yeah … mocking competitors is just not a good look for big, powerful companies. In my book, it only ever works for underdogs (reference not intended) and Apple is absolutely the opposite of that.

The John Hodgman campaign was probably the last time that made sense for Apple. (I guess the 1984 commercial was the first one.)
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kalsta Avatar
12 months ago

I turned it off after 48 seconds
I watched the whole thing and laughed… zero times. A classic case of trying too hard to be funny. If humour has a blue screen of death, that was it.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
transpo1 Avatar
12 months ago
Surprised I didn't know about this video series until now but honestly, I turned it off after 48 seconds. Way too long, too complicated, and annoying. Maybe it's just me since I used to work in the 30 second to 60 second ad world, but these are bad. Although, I think it appropriate Apple resumes poking fun at Windows in general- just do it well!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
12 months ago
Apple used to make great Ads. Or may be Steve Jobs used to make "insanely great" Ads.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
12 months ago
Who actually watches these ads?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
12 months ago
The audacity to be pointing fingers at anybody else about anything when they have this liquid glass vomit interface they rolled out … is quite something.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)