In the commercial, Seinfeld sets out on a bogus journey to disuade the client in front of him from buying the new Acura. Jerry bribes him with everything from cash to his own personal soup nazi, an omelette bar and even a fun zip-line across the city. When the pair finally land the man is convinced to give Seinfeld the rights to the car, only to be flanked by Leno in an awesome jet powered flight suit. The man insists on giving the car to Leno who then takes the keys and the man off into the sky leaving Seinfeld behind on the roof.

With cheesy Seinfeld humor throughout the commercial is set to be a hit among Seinfeld fans. After the self titled show left the air in 1999, memorable character hits such as the soup nazi have long been loved by fans and soup aficionados alike. The video of the commercial can be found here.

More of which can be seen here.

I’ll start us off with an attempt to escape from the law, one that fails miserably thanks to the innovate pursuit skills of the cops giving chase:

I’ll start us off with a video of the Muppets, yes THE Muppets have now apparently joined Google+ and are planning a hangout. Now if only kids these days knew who the Muppets were… anyways, here goes:

The Muppets join Google+

WebProNews recently interviewing former Laker, Rick Fox, on the future of online media.

Microsoft’s PR firm Waggener Edstrom told Valleywag not only was Microsoft pulling that plug, but also that they had planned to do so anyway. "People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected," said a Waggener Edstrom PR guy.

So let me get this straight, they paid Jerry $10 million for 2 ads, which came out within something like two weeks, with the intention of canceling the campaign immediately after? They must have a lot of money left from that proposed Yahoo! deal that they have nothing else to do with.

Or maybe it’s not really over. "I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t some stunt just to drum up more false publicity — taking Seinfeld away for a few ads before he makes a triumphant return — but if this really is the end, I’m going to have to call Microsoft’s ads a failure," writes MG Siegler at Venture Beat. It’s an interesting theory, but I’m leaning more toward the failure part.

That’s probably not fair though. It hasn’t been a total failure. Some people enjoyed it, and as many have pointed out, the campaign got people talking about it this much, so it did work in that respect, but when so many are talking about it in a negative light, is that really going to help sell their product (whatever that may be…some kind of edible computer or something?)? Here are the two ads in case you want to review them:

The entire ad campaign is a $300 Million job. Microsoft is telling everyone that moving past Seinfeld, they are going to enter "phase two." I wonder who they’re going to bring us this time. Please don’t be Frank Caliendo! According to Valleywag, "phase two" will be announced tomorrow.

Update: Gizmodo is reporting that though these new ads will be focused on more, Microsoft and Seinfeld haven’t parted ways yet.

While I’m sure there are some out there who enjoyed the commercial, it’s almost as if it were met with a collective thumbs down from reporters and bloggers ‘netwide. Before I go any further, take a minute to view the clip yourself if you haven’t yet. Ok, it’s closer to a minute and a half, which doesn’t help its cause either, but here you go.

For one, it’s hard to tell what Microsoft is even trying to push with this ad. For two, it’s just not funny. This is only opinion of course, but as I said, it’s a very popular one. It’s not a matter of just not being into Seinfeld’s brand of humor. I (as I’m sure a great many other critics are) am a big fan of the show Seinfeld. It’s a matter of just plain annoying advertising.

I am the type of person who is very easily annoyed with commercials when they are played frequently (this is especially a problem for me as football season gets underway), and the thought of having to sit through this as often as the Mac commercials does not bring a smile to my face. That’s really the least funny part about the ad. Granted, I’m sure the ad will be trimmed from its minute-and-a-half form for regular television airplay, but that doesn’t really change a whole lot.

This isn’t just a rant about why I don’t like this commercial. The news here is that Microsoft has spent a ton of money (about $300 million) on this new advertising campaign, and nobody seems to like it. Here are some examples:

"Seinfeld’s first commercial starring Bill Gates is out — shot in a mall shoe store — and it’s not going to help Microsoft look any cooler," says Dan Frommer at Silicon Alley Insider.

"Personally, I’m not convinced this is starting on on the right foot. My wife initially saw the commercial this evening and her response was basically ‘I don’t get it.’ It’s one thing to try to be ‘hip’, but it’s another thing to try but completely fail at getting your message across. The attempt at humor is a nice change, though," says Josh Pigford at The Apple Blog (emphasis added).

Jackson West at Valleywag writes, "The whole production says ‘quirky,’ not slick or cool, but then Windows Vista is full of maddening quirks."

Gizmodo’s Jason Chen says, "In fact, there’s not really a whole lot of anything, including laughs, information or pimping of Vista. It’s kinda like Seinfeld’s really long, really rambling Superman ad for Amex he did a few years back. We hope the rest of the campaign is better."

You get the idea. Some people haven’t given up on the campaign entirely. This is only the first ad in a series that will likely feature other celebrities. Maybe they will get better. For the record, I find the Mac commercials annoying too.