AOL vs MSN: the TV spots
 

AOL: A couple is excited to get an AOL disk in the mail because it completes their massive sculpture of a fish made only of AOL disks. Jerry Stiller comes in to tell them they might want to load this one instead.

MSN: An ugly middle-aged man in a butterfly costume follows people from room to room, cleaning their phone, their dirty socks to try to suggest that MSN "sanitizes" the online experience.

AOL wins this round. The whole "guy in a butterfly suit" concept is just terrible. The original idea of the logo was great and its visual analogy to windows was spot-on. Now they've ruined it. Is there anyone who is intrigued by the notion of having an ugly guy in a butterfly costume follow you around your house? I'm sure there were websites for this sort of thing before MSN, but...

The AOL ad would have been better if they put the disk on the sculpture and then 20 more disks appeared in the mail for them to try out.

I haven't seen either of these. I can't say that I am sad because I haven't.

Doesn't the AOL ad have Snoop Dogg in it, too?

Snoop Dogg does show up at the last minute... to take a big baseball bat in the gonads of credibility. He must have gotten paid or had to do a favor for someone.

For the right price, I bet we'd all appear in an AOL ad. Though maybe not together.. I'd charge extra for that.

I don't think I've seen a commercial in ages. Though I am intending to devote more time to the tube since there are a few things coming up I at least want to sample (The Simple Life (still haven't watched the 1st episode) and the new Battlestar Galactica). So maybe I'll check out some.

The AOL ad sounds like a clever use of the whole "AOL disc = coaster" idea. I've never seen any of the MSN ones but a guy in a multicolored butterfly suit??? I hope somebody had a flyswatter or a can of Raid sized to suit.

MSN has been running the geek in the butterfly suit ads for some time. They have worked very well at convincing me I don't want anything to do with an internet service connected with microsloth. (Heck, I won't even have a free hotmail account.)