Microsoft Owns Up To Lame iPhone Parody Ads, Says They Were 'Off The Mark'

Microsoft has admitted that its recent iPhone parody ads, which have been universally panned, were "off the mark." The so-called parody ads were posted by Microsoft on the official YouTube channel of Windows Phone in an attempt to mock the newly launched iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. But the company ended up just embarrassing itself with the poor quality and even poor taste of the ad campaign. The campaign consisted of "fly on the wall" videos showing a couple of designers at Cupertino pitching the gold iPhone 5s and the plastic iPhone 5c to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive. Well, not only did these videos fell miserably flat in the humor department, but they also appeared to make fun of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. As my colleague Bryan noted earlier:

My biggest beef with the videos was with the actor who apparently played Apple CEO Tim Cook — or at least the back of his head. Whether intentional or not, this guy didn’t so much look like Cook, but rather Steve Jobs towards the end of his life.

Shortly after they were posted, the ads were taken down by Microsoft, making them private on YouTube. A Microsoft representative told CNET that the ad campaign "was intended to be a lighthearted poke at our friends from Cupertino. But it was off the mark, and we've decided to pull it down." If you wish to see — or see again — just how bad the campaign was, watch the mirrored highlights reel below (via The Verge): If you can't see the video embedded above, please click here.

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