Microsoft yanks Seinfeld-Gates ads

Posted by Adam Wills

The first Seinfeld-Gates commercial.

After watching the two Microsoft commercials, I’m still struggling to understand why consumers didn’t connect with the folksy charm and zany antics of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.

Oh, wait… that’s right. The market is going down the tubes and draining your 401(k). Investment houses are failing, and people are losing their homes.

What better people to put in an obtuse ad to hock an increasingly unpopular product during a time of financial crisis than a billionaire and a multimillionaire?

The ads have only been out for two weeks and Microsoft is already pulling them, according to CNET.

The next ad in Microsoft’s massive Windows campaign won’t feature Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, but the move is part of a planned shift, Microsoft insisted on Wednesday

“That was always the plan,“ a Microsoft spokesperson said late Wednesday. That followed a report on Valleywag that Seinfeld and Gates were getting the boot.

Microsoft had indicated even before the second ad debuted last week that a shift was coming.

In any case, Wednesday’s coverage is more bad news for Microsoft, which is banking on this $300 million ad push to help restore Microsoft’s image after years of bad press for Windows Vista and relentless attacks from rival Apple.

Reaction to the ads has been largely negative since the first one debuted two weeks ago.

Update: Later on Wednesday, A Microsoft spokesman added this official statement: “We will be executing the second phase of our advertising campaign tomorrow, as planned from the start.“

The first ad…