Intel is doing an ad campaign with Justin Long to sell PCs because Justin Long used to play the Mac in an Apple campaign from over a decade ago. I find them off-putting, and not because they aren’t funny or because they make fun of Apple, but because they make no sense.

First off, Apple isn’t a competitor to Intel. Consider this recent Sprint campaign that also used a competitor’s spokesperson from over a decade ago. Those ads aren’t funny either, but Verizon and Sprint are competitors so having Verizon’s guy explain that Verizon’s network doesn’t matter so you might as well save with Sprint makes sense. Intel targeting Macs because Apple decided to make their own CPU makes about as much sense as Heinz targeting Big Macs because McDonalds decided to make their own ketchup.

What Intel obviously wanted to say is “Go Intel”, but they didn’t because most people don’t buy processors. They buy laptops. What these ads are trying to say with “Go PC” is “you should buy a PC laptop because they have processors made by us”, but they fail to connect why. Most of the benefits Intel is touting — variety of hardware, touch screens, face unlock — all come from the laptop makers or Microsoft. As far as I know, none of them require Intel. Even the gaming one prominently features an Xbox controller.

Make fun of Apple or not, the goal of this campaign should have been “a laptop without Intel is like a burger without Heinz“. Instead, Intel commoditized itself by creating an ad campaign that highlights all of the benefits of PC laptops regardless of what’s inside of them.