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Microsoft's Family Guy cancellation: Windows 7, yes; incest and deaf people, no
17 comments- TAGS:family guy, Microsoft, Windows 7
- IT TOPICS:Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft
Here's no surprise: Microsoft has cancelled its Windows 7 sponsorship of a Family Guy special on November 8, saying "the content was not a fit with the Windows brand." I guess they expected jokes about User Account Control rather than feminine hygiene, and about Aero Peek rather than incest.
As I've blogged previously, Microsoft had planned to sponsor the special, titled "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," and was going to embed Windows 7 pitches directly into the show, rather than using traditional ads. A sneek peek at a trailer revealed that the pitches were not even close to being funny.
Now that Microsoft has actually seen the show, the company has changed its mind about sponsorship. According to Variety, in a taping of the show Seth MacFarlane and his "Family Guy" co-star Alex Borstein:
made typical "Family Guy" style jokes, including riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.
That spurred Microsoft to pull the plug.
It's almost a surprise that the company decided to end its sponsorship. In the last several months, Microsoft has sponsored some of the most tasteless advertising and promotions ever seen by a technology company --- GoDaddy excluded, that is.
Back in the summer, Microsoft created a porn-and-puke ad promoting Internet Explorer 8's porn mode. In it, when a wife borrows her husband's laptop, she sees porn on the screen, and vomits, first on the floor, and then on her husband.
Microsoft pulled that one as well.
Last week and this week, the company is sponsoring a "Windows 7 Whopper" campaign with Burger King, which features a gut-busting, heart-killing burger with 7 patties, 1.7 pounds of meat, and enough cholesterol to clog the arteries of a dozen NFL linemen.
Just who is in charge of advertising at Microsoft? What did they think they were going to get when they sponsored a Family Guy special --- Ozzie and Harriet? Instead, they got something closer to Ozzie Osbourne on one of his bad days.
One theory, put forward by TechDirt, holds that Microsoft knew all along it would pull its sponsorship. On this theory, it decided to sponsor the show and then cancel the sponsorship in order to attract as much attention as possible.
Interesting theory, but I don't think the company is that clever. I think it's casting about for a way to change its image to be "edgy," and in doing so, is only pushing itself over the edge.
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