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Apple's blue screen of death adds up to age old brand wars

When executed well, comparative advertising tends to strike a balance between wit and confidence, transforming product differences into cultural conversations.

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Payal Navarkar
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Gaurav Banerjee (67)

Apple’s latest ad has reignited the age-old art of brand rivalry in advertising. In an eight-minute film titled “The Underdogs: BSOD (Blue Screen of Death),” the company takes a direct dig at Microsoft’s system error, a playful nod to the massive Windows outage in 2024 caused by a CrowdStrike update that left millions of systems inoperable.

The video follows a fictional team called ‘The Underdogs’ preparing for a major tech event, only to watch their rivals’ Windows-powered systems crash mid-presentation. The chaos unfolds as their own Mac devices continue running smoothly, a subtle yet unmistakable jab at Windows’ vulnerability. The ad closes with the brand’s security expert explaining how the issue stemmed from Windows’ decision to grant third-party kernel-level access, a choice the brand proudly avoids.

This moment marks the latest chapter in a long tradition of comparative advertising, a genre where brands turn competition into entertainment, often using humour to highlight their strengths. From McDonald’s cheeky directional billboard pointing customers toward the nearest outlet (and away from Burger King) to Google’s recent Pixel 10 spot teasing Apple for delayed AI features, brand rivalries have long played out on screens big and small.

In Google’s ad, released ahead of the Pixel 10 launch, the narrator quips, “If you buy a new phone because of a feature that’s coming soon, but it’s been a full year, you could change your definition of ‘soon.’ Or you could just change your phone.” The line, aimed squarely at Apple’s postponed AI rollout, underscores how humour can make competition engaging rather than confrontational.

Humour has been one of the strongest consumer pullers in advertising, a universal connector that makes rivalries more watchable and brands more relatable. When executed well, comparative advertising tends to strike a balance between wit and confidence, transforming product differences into cultural conversations.

From cola wars to smartphone face-offs, these campaigns have shown that a clever sense of humour can do what even the biggest media budgets sometimes can’t: make people talk, laugh, and, most importantly, remember the brand.

Here are some more brands that have historically mastered comparative advertising:

McDonald's vs Burger King

Samsung vs Apple

Flipkart vs Amazon

Pepsi vs Coca Cola

DHL vs Competitors

Mercedes vs Jaguar

Dominos vs Subway

Did you come across any other such comparative ad campaigns? If yes, then share it with us at team@socialsamosa.com or post it in the comments section below.

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