Katarzyna Petru
Apple is back with another installment of the iconic "The Underdogs" ad series – and this time, it isn't pulling any punches. The new spot "The Underdogs: BSOD (Blue Screen of Death)" has set the tech industry ablaze, hitting right where Microsoft felt it the most – in the disastrous blunder of July 2024, when millions of computers worldwide experienced a simultaneous "blue screen."
“Blue Screen of Death” as a backdrop to chaos
The action of the advertisement takes place at an industry fair. The Apple Underdogs team – well-known from previous spots – watches as the competition's booths literally drown in the blue glow of BSODs. The famous error message appears on Windows computers, and a crowd of technicians tries helplessly to bring the equipment back to life.
This is an obvious reference to the CrowdStrike update disaster on July 19, 2024, which paralyzed 8.5 million devices worldwide and caused losses estimated at $5.4 billion. Apple uses this situation with surgical precision — showing that Mac computers avoided the issues due to a completely different approach to system security.
Apple's Technical Response
The advertisement is not limited to jokes. In the second part of the spot, the narrator explains why macOS is resistant to similar failures — from isolating critical processes to the lack of direct access for external drivers to the system kernel.
Apple argues that it is the security architecture that distinguishes their platform from Windows, where errors from external software can paralyze global business operations.
Industry Divided
Reactions to the ad are extreme. Some marketing industry experts call it one of the boldest and most brilliant moves by Apple since the "Get a Mac" campaign, while others accuse the company of attacking Microsoft for something that was the fault of an independent software vendor.
Microsoft, in an official comment, reminds that it has already implemented new protective mechanisms to prevent similar situations in the future.
The Fight for Business Trust
One thing is certain – Apple took advantage of Microsoft's crisis as an ideal moment to remind everyone of the stability of Macs in the corporate environment. More and more corporations began testing MacBooks as an alternative to Windows laptops after the chaos of July.
The spot “The Underdogs: BSOD” is not just an advertisement — it’s a strategic move in the fight for the enterprise sector, which has been dominated by Microsoft for years.
