Home » Archives » May 2008 » Mike Rowe is a Big Fat Liar [Previous entry: "Do your updates, kids..."] [Next entry: "hair"] 05/29/2008: "Mike Rowe is a Big Fat Liar"



Okay, so, normally, I don't care much about celebrity endorsements, but HP continues to lie to the public in ways that I think require exposure.

In the past I've been upset by the HP ad that features Burton snowboards that insinuates that Burton a)does their own ads (or at least, did when they were a smaller company), and b) does them on an HP. Here's the thing: They didn't do their own ads. Talented designers who deserve credit do. I've met some of them. They work for (or are partners in) Modern Dog. Here's the other thing: They did them on Macs.

So, today's rant was inspired by the new HP ads featuring Mike Rowe, who I know is a Mac user.

Honestly though, I am less offended that HP is paying Mac users to hawk their PCs than I am that they are taking credit for the work of talented professional designers who could do what they do with scissors, crayons and rubber cement if they had to, rendering computer platforms, and moreso PC manufacturers, completely freakin' irrelevant.

This stupid Mike Rowe ad just picked that old Burton Snowboards scab. Like he drives a Ford either. Who wants to make bets his daily driver is something German?

Replies: 4 Comments

On Friday, May 30th, sweet thing said

Mike Rowe does actually drive a Ford F150. It was a "gift" from For--part of his compensation, I suppose.

However, when questioned about being a known Mac user, Mike said that he'd had difficulty with his Mac and had switched to an HP back in the fall, so who's to say, really--unless he is a big fat liar. Well, not fat. That man is F-I-N-E!!

On Friday, May 30th, Jon said

Sweet Thing,

Thanks for the info.

After I wrote this post I reconsidered leaving it up...because my beef is not with Mike Rowe, whose show I obviously enjoy...since I was paying enough attention to spot a shiny white MacBook in the background of one of the various "behind the scenes" specials.

My Beef is with HP, and it's over the Burton TV Ad. So now, whenever I see one of these "The computer is personal again" ads it picks that scab.

The other HP ad that pisses me off is the one Featuring Jay-Z, who is also a Mac user, and had contributed beats to Garageband.

Also - I'm sorry to hear that Mike's had issues with his MacBook.

Mike - If you ever see this, send me an e-mail, man. If it's a platform adaption thing, I can help out. If it's a hardware thing...well, then, good luck with the HP...which are not terribly well known for their build quality.

On Friday, May 30th, sweet thing said

No problem, Jon.

Mike has admitted that maybe some of his Mac problems were operator error, so maybe he should take you up on your offer

I think the HP ads are pretty cool, but I'm not about to give up my Mac for an HP any time soon!

On Friday, May 30th, Sara said

Wow, you are seriously misinformed. I suggest you do a little research and check your facts before you publicly label someone as a “big fat liar”! Your comments are simply not true and are irresponsible. I can’t speak to the Burton Snowboard-HP ads, but I can tell you as a matter of fact that Mike Rowe did not have a script and creatively these ads can be directly contributed to him and of course a talented producer. Further, Mike Rowe has two HP laptops and he drives a Ford! Shame on you!