Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Windows Advertising Goes Too Far, Parents Television Council Complains

Play time



Summary: On top of vapourware promotion, Microsoft Windows ads are upsetting families; group demands removal of Microsoft ads that offend children

MICROSOFT keeps invoking Vista 8 every now and then, especially when the reality behind Vista 7 proves too challenging to defend. Microsoft is already hyping up a successor of Vista 7 in order to "freeze the market" (Microsoft's words) while Microsoft's PR puppet at CNET participates in this. The same PR puppet is hyping up Vista 7 sales despite them being flat for manufacturers. They measure only what they want to measure, where they want to measure it, for a period of time that's desirable only based on one particular definition/criteria. We wrote about this early in the month [1, 2] (NPD's fake numbers).



“The same PR puppet is hyping up Vista 7 sales despite them being flat for manufacturers.”It turns out that the latest Vista vapourware comes from Microsoft's very own presentation, so this case of vapourware is clearly intended, not "leaked" (the sense of taboo in a leak adds to mystique and increases attention, so it is often a PR move that's akin to viral marketing).

We recently analysed a Guardian podcast where Microsoft marketing people took credit for other people's ideas that Microsoft is routinely copying. Despite such shameless and baseless marketing hype, The Guardian has published this article which calls Vista 7 "The Hard Sell". From the gentle short rant:

But hang on, how is being in a cab suddenly some kind of a treat? Not only are Microsoft putting tedious features front and centre, the ideas behind them are apparently coming from people so dense they're unaware they've been in a certain kind of vehicle before. "I'm a PC, and Windows 7 was my idea," Crystal boasts.


Vista 7 has also just been criticised in The Daily India.

Honestly, does anyone understand Microsoft’s point in offering upgrade media for Windows 7? As well, what’s with the different versions?

Last time, we discussed the multiple versions of Windows 7 and why it’s largely silly. Now we’re going to discuss the even-sillier idea in all of this: upgrade versus full install.

Seriously, why is Microsoft even going down this road? Are we seriously believing that they’re rewarding prior customers? We’ve already seen that the really good customers (like me) who bought their most expensive version of Vista, are now getting screwed. We Vista Ultimate users aren’t getting a single penny off in upgrading to Windows 7. In the end, the extra money I spent on Vista Ultimate is gone with my move to Windows 7.


One shameless aspect of Microsoft's advertising for Vista 7 continues a tradition of using AIDS to increase sales [1, 2]. These days, Microsoft is frequently using kids to sell Windows and according to The Register Microsoft has just resorted to "child labor" too. We will write about it later.

There is a little new rant floating out there about Microsoft using youngsters to pretend they are Windows fans (before they even understand anything). How long before newly-born babies are shown bearing a copy of Vista 7? Or maybe sonogram of Vista 7 inside the fetus? Seriously, Microsoft cannot just impose this type of false advertising like some parents impose a particular religion (supposedly a belief) upon their child when it is conceived.

A parents group has just formally complained about Microsoft. How timely a deed.

Here is the group demanding that Family Guy ads for Microsoft/Windows are pulled entirely. This has already happened to an extent.

The organization's national grassroots director, Gavin McKiernan, delivered a speech to the board stating, "Mr. MacFarlane's Family Guy has consistently presented excessively violent, graphically sexual and profane material. The lead in and lead out of the Seth MacFarlane special were both Family Guy episodes supported by Windows 7."


The Seattle-based, Microsoft-friendly sites have covered this also:

Seattle P-I Microsoft blog: Parent group to Microsoft: Stop supporting 'Family Guy'

The Parents Television Council, which aims to protect children from sex, violence and profanity on TV, is calling for Microsoft to stop advertising on the popular show "Family Guy."


Seattle Weekly blogs: Parents Group Asks Microsoft to Drop All 'Family Guy' Ads

Microsoft found out that Seth MacFarlane's one-hour "Family Guy" special was filled with jokes about the Holocaust, Mother Theresa and incest they canceled their sponsorship. Now, the same busybodies that got the FCC to fine ABC for daring to show a bare ass on "NYPD Blue" have asked them to go one step further.


Perhaps Microsoft has simply lost the plot. The viral videos of Microsoft Store staff dancing deliriously sure is a sign.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The European Patent Office Cannot Attract Proficient Patent Examiners Who Master Their Domain
They are enablers and facilitators of corruption
[Meme] 9AM Meeting at Brett Wilson LLP
Brett Wilson LLP in space
 
Debian Can Dump Blind Users Because I am Not Blind
the sort of mentality we're up against
Fascistic Policies Got 'Normalised' in 'Public Office'. Let's Not Let the Same Happen in 'Tech'.
Political discourse typically guides what's "normal" and what "good citizens" should believe/feel
Yes, Your Mastodon Instance Will Also Shut Down
Few people run a one-person instance in the Fediverse
The Demise of GAFAM Necessitates Greater and Broader Awareness
Morale at Microsoft is really bad
Free Software Foundation Reaches 75% of Funding Goal
Not bad for this "Fosschild"
Slopwatch: 7 New Examples of Fake 'Linux' Slop Pieces (Plagiarism With Misinformation)
Serial Sloppers need to be shunned
Links 19/07/2025: Kapo-berg Settles, Software Patents Challenged
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 18, 2025
Links 18/07/2025: Peace With PKK and Connie Francis Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/07/2025: Alhena 5.1.8 and Bornhack 2025
Links for the day
How to Top Up a "Limited Liability" With Even More Limitations (Dodging Accountability in the UK)
Some people call it a "shell game". Sometimes it's done for tax evasion purposes.
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Inches Towards 75% of Fund-Raising Target
Will the cutoff date be extended again?
Gemini Space (or Geminispace) Grows, But Usage of Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops Further
Ideally, all Gemini capsules should use self-signed certificates
Links 18/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs in Activision, The New Stack (Sponsored by Microsoft) Complains About Openwashing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/07/2025: OCC25 Gnus for Reading Usenet and RSS Feeds, Small Web Updates
Links for the day
Listing as Staff People Who Left the Company More Than Six Years Earlier
There are apparently no laws against that
Brian Fagioli Shovels Up LLM Slop (Plagiarism) Onto Slashdot, Then Uses Slashdot for Affirmation or as Badge of Honour
Notice how some of his latest slop is presented ("as featured on Slashdot")
Social Control Media Productivity
Snapping photos of the bone
The Law Firm SLAPPing Us For the Microsofters Lost 72% of Its Tangible Assets in the Past Year, According to Its Own Reports
That might help explain why they're willing to tolerate serial stranglers from Microsoft as clients
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity.com Slopfarm and Slopfarms Propped Up by Google News
"As LLM slop is foisted onto the WWW in place of knowledge and real content, it now gets ingested and processed by other LLMs, creating a sort of ouroboros of crap."
Links 18/07/2025: Weather Events and Health Hazards
Links for the day
Microsoft's All-Time Low in Finland
Microsoft is in a freefall
Security: Shane Wegner & Debian statement of incompetence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 17, 2025
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: "Goodreads for Gemini" and Defence of "The Small Web"
Links for the day
Links 17/07/2025: Anger and Morale Issues at Microsoft, Wars and Conflicts Get Digital
Links for the day
CALEA / CALEA2 is the Real Problem, Not Chinese Operatives Exploiting CALEA / CALEA2 (as Any Other Nation Can)
CALEA / CALEA2 is more of a front door than a back door
99.99% Uptime in First Half of 2025
Since January there was only one noticeable outage
Nils Torvalds and Anna "Mikke" Torvalds (née Törnqvis) Hopefully Use GNU/Linux by Now
"Torvalds Family Uses Windows, Not Linus’ Linux"
Attack of the Slopfarms
FUD-amplifying bots with slop images, slop text (LLM slop)
When People Call a Best/Close Friend of Bill Gates a "Serial Rapist"
Good thing that the Linux Foundation keeps the "Linux" trademark ("Linux Mark") clean
Not My Problem, I Don't Care
Context/inspiration: Martin Niemöller
Honest Journalism About the European Patent Office Ceased to Exist After SLAPPs and Bribes to the Media
The EPO is basically a Mafia
Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia, Shutdown in Pakistan, What Next?
It seems possible that in 2025 alone Microsoft will have laid off over 50,000 workers
Life Became Simpler When I Stopped Driving and I Don't Miss Driving When I See "Modern" Cars
Gee, wonder why car sales have plummeted...
Why I Believe Brett Wilson LLP and Its Microsoft Clients Are All Toast
So far our legal strategy has worked perfectly
EPO Jobs Are Very Toxic and Bad for One's Health
Health first, not monopolies
Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
the point of life isn't to make more money
Microsoft's Morale Circling Down the Drain
Or gutter, toilet etc.
What Matters More Than "Market Share"
The goal is freedom, not "market share"
Tech Used to be Fun. To Many of Us It's Still Fun.
You can just watch it from afar and make fun of it all
Links 17/07/2025: "Blog Identity Crisis" and Openwashing by Nvidia
Links for the day
Greffiers and the US Attorney of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
The lawsuit can help expose extensive corruption in the American court system as well
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The People Who Promoted systemd in Debian Also Promote Wayland
This is not politics
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025