Microsoft has had better ads than products because it's easier to tell lies than actually make things that people want to buy. Its "spirit of the season" ad though is certain to alienate everybody. The left will scream that it's being co-opted. And indeed the scenes of activists playing with some sort of Microsoft sketch tablet (a jumbo Surface?) while pushing edgy causes are a complete mismatch.
To celebrate the “spirit of the holidays,” Microsoft released an ad this week best described as a collage of Left-wing pet causes. The commercial features sympathetic images and anecdotes for Black Lives Matter, Syrian refugees, transgender activism and more general LGBT issues.
“We wanted to lift people up and remind them that ordinary people can make a difference,” Microsoft’s description of the ad reads on YouTube. “”Our message focuses on the spirit of the holidays, people coming together and celebrating what is good and right with the world—what unites us, instead of what divides us,” claims the ad’s description.
You really have to be living in a huge left-wing bubble to think that a raft of left-wing causes and talking points will unite rather than divide. It comes off as left-wing propaganda to anyone outside the bubble. But it's not going to score many points on the left because it's just so nakedly cynical and commercial. It's hard to think of a worse "Spirit of the Season" than an ad that offends everyone.