WATCH: Microsoft's cloyingly nostalgic Internet Explorer ad targets '90s kids
Are Oregon Trail and pogs enough to get users to ditch Chrome?
Hey, guys: Remember the '90s? Microsoft does. And it's tapping into the formative years of current twenty-somethings for a brand new Internet Explorer ad called — wait for it — "Child of the '90s." The clip resurrects pogs, Lisa Frank folders, Reebok Pumps, Oregon Trail, and 56k modems (without the screeching) to burrow its way into your heart's warm nostalgia centers. "We thought it was time to invite those of you who haven't thought about Internet Explorer in a while to take a trip down memory lane," says director of IE marketing Roger Capriotti in a blog post. "Internet Explorer is a child of the '90s, but we have done some serious growing up."
"We must admit," says Chris Burns at Slashgear, the ad does "strike more than one chord in the nostalgic banjoes in our heads, and like any good Super Bowl commercial, only gets to the product in the last few seconds of the video." Whether you hate IE or love it, you will probably "enjoy this advertisement thoroughly." I dunno, says Jared Newman at PC World. "The ads are cute… but eventually Microsoft might want to tell the world why Internet Explorer is better than the competition."
I think the ad itself is kind of hollow, like some weird lovechild of BuzzFeed and Thought Catalog, but without the occasional wink that says, Yeah. We're laying it on thick here and we know it.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But what have you, sentimentalists? Is anyone considering ditching Chrome or Safari for IE 10?
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Will California's EV mandate survive Trump, SCOTUS challenge?
Today's Big Question The Golden State's climate goal faces big obstacles
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Underneath the noise, however, there’s an existential crisis'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
2024: the year of distrust in science
In the Spotlight Science and politics do not seem to mix
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published