As we’re not generally middle-aged white ladies here at UPROXX, we don’t entirely understand the appeal of Oprah, just that she could have us all killed and it wouldn’t ding her wallet. We do, however, understand the appeal of schadenfreude, and watching Microsoft and Oprah’s advertising attempt go amusingly off the rails illustrates just how hard technology has made life out there for a marketing brand manager.
Since our audience and Oprah’s don’t tend to intersect, this tweeting fail needs a little background: Every year, Oprah puts out a gift guide, called Oprah’s Favorite Things. It’s pretty much what you’d expect — sweaters, jewelry, Sharper Image gadgets. Among the nominees was the Microsoft Surface, which Oprah compared to a Mercedes. So much so that she’s bought twelve for her friends, as she enthusiastically told everyone on Twitter.
One… small problem:
As TechCrunch points out, there’s not a dedicated Twitter app for the Surface just yet, but we’re not feeling quite so generous. The thing does come with a web browser, for Pete’s sake. It’s not hard to use. Just pop one open and get it done.
That said, it’s hard to get too worked up about this. It’s actually kind of endearing, really. Microsoft has a long, long, looooooong history of not “getting” this whole “marketing” “thing,” so it’s actually kind of amazing they came up with this ad for the Surface:
Secondly, Oprah has had her share of… run-ins thanks to mistakes made (or fights picked) on Twitter.
So, really, this was potent chemistry that could have blown up in many, many ways, but is instead just funny and sort of adorable, like your dad figuring out how to make a Furby happy but using a hammer to do it. That said, we’ve got to wonder how this affects Surface, especially since Microsoft hasn’t really released any hard data about Windows 8.