Microsoft Debuts New Explorer Ad Campaign

In an attempt to curb the Firefox exodus, Microsoft released four new ads for Internet Explorer 8 featuring Dean Cain of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman fame as a 1960s advertising executive. Reaction to the ads, which use the tag line, “Browse Better,” was mixed, with PC World giving them the thumbs-up, while Gawker panned them.

The ads use acronyms S.H.Y.N.E.S.S. (sharing heavily, yet not enough sharing still), F.O.M.S. (fear of missing something), G.R.I.P.E.S. (gritting rage: Internet pathetically extra slow) and O.M.G.I.G.P. (oh my God! I’m gonna puke).

PC World called the O.M.G.I.G.P. ad in particular “the most honest ad we’ve seen from Redmond in a long time,” but Gawker wasn’t as kind, saying, “These spots are, at least, marginally more rational than the absurdist, quickly-abandoned Jerry Seinfeld commercials for Vista. They just need a nice tag line. How about, ‘Internet Explorer: Why Not Drag Out Your Dysfunctional, Creepy Relationship a Bit Longer?’”

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