I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal for a particular article, obviously wanting nothing to do with advertisements, when I was drawn – like Augustus Gloop to the chocolate river – to a Microsoft advertisement. I think it’s clear why:

I didn’t scribble on it – they did. And you can bet I pieced together those non-scribbled out words (see the white spots?) into a sentence, which reads, “It’s Everybody’s Business to be on the same page.”

I was so intrigued in fact, that I read the article behind the red ink! The outrageous subject matter (stop communicating as a business and you’ll be more successful) led me on to the fact that it was fake. The kicker was the last few paragraphs, “How can you motivate others? Complaining is usually a great bet.” “If you need to convey complex information, try reading it from a small, crumpled piece of paper.” You get the point.

So now I’m really into it. So into it that I visited the advertisement’s Microsoft website. Cool ad Microsoft, you REALLY got me!

Of course I’m a member of the “millennial generation” so I have no patience. I found a video and decided to watch it so I could give you a great analysis of their fantastic advertisement and what lengths I went through to learn more. But uh-oh! Only version 1.0 of Microsoft Silverlight supports the Macinitosh PowerPC! The site I visited was built for an earlier, beta version of Silverlight – not the current one. I need to contact the site owner.

Welp, you lost me there. We’re not on the same page anymore. I realize I’m a Mac and you’re a PC. There’s a good chance we’re not going to get along. But you led me all this way, and I really wanted to communicate with you. How ironic. It was a good ad anyway. If anyone out there on a PC wants to tell me what it’s all about, that’d be swell. Swell like Violet Beauregarde after the blueberry bubble gum.