Laptop Hunter Ads Tweaked After Apple Gripe

Microsoft has changed at least one of its highly successful "Laptop Hunter" ads after Apple called to complain about it, Advertising Age reports. In the original, a law student shopping for a laptop observes: "This Mac is $2,000, and that's before adding anything." Her mother adds, "Why would you pay twice the price?" But Apple's lawyer called to say the ad was out of date, and Mac prices had gone down. So the shopper now says only: "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand." She still rejects a Mac in favor of a $972 Dell PC.

The edit "does not change the focus of the campaign, which is to showcase the value and choice of the PC," a Microsoft spokeswoman says. Microsoft’s chief operating officer gleefully told a company conference this month that Apple's complaint about the ads was "the greatest single phone call" he's ever taken. (More Microsoft stories.)