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Microsoft to spend $120 Million to Erase "HUGE Company" Image

seattlepi.nwsource.com — Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, will spend $120 million a year on an advertising campaign to fight its image as "a huge American company."

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 23, 2006

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  • acontorer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If you read the actual article, it appears that they are NOT trying to erase the "huge" part of their image, but rather, the "American" part of their image -- in favor of a more accurate "multinational" image. This is not dumb or even ironic.

    If you read ONLY the erroneous headline, you get a different impression.
  • RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Maybe if they spent $100 billion and in the process of spending all that money had to lay off half of their workforce they would eventually be perceived as what they want: a small company.
  • clumsyninja, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I'm gonna sit on my ass and drink beer to git rid of my broke ass loser hillbilly image.

    (a joke I have a job, semi-new car, etc. :P)
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4They should spend it on security research.
  • AttroPheed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Seems stupid to me but I don't think that we're the ones they're after.
  • hemidurango, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems they want to switch image from a "huge American company" to a "huge International company". The irony is manufactured by a vague headline. No digg...
  • fudgebrown, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Like McDonald's selling health food. - good luck with that one...
  • mikedoth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why don't they spend $120 Million and build a better OS.
  • antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yea, I'm going to eat 10,000 calories a day to "lose weight".
  • gusto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, they're not trying to make out that they're actually a little cottage industry, but for the ad campaign to focus on work that the company does outside the US. The headline is a little misleading.
  • Tufriast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I disagree totally Brian.

    A Ford is a horrible automobile, and people know it, and it is popular. There is one reason behind this: ignorance is bliss.

    When you show people the availability of operating systems, and ones that work properly the choice of Windows becomes stale at best. It's like saying "Because you know of only one OS, you assume it is the best." You cannot state this about anything, really. Whatever the topic.

    The only way M$ would be the best OS is if it had fairly competed, and not literally monopolized a market. Instead, they entered in a brand of warfare that's no better than piracy with suits.
  • Jamminpotato, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4irony? i think so
  • zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I bet if apple said soemthing like this, there would be nothing but praise..."

    Shut up moron, you inflamatory types contribute nothing here. The subject is MICROSOFT not APPLE.
  • pacogozalez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think of M$ as "Evil". The image problem is not "Huge", it's "Evil".

    I do not trust someone who is repeatedly triing to "force my hand". As example M$ will force you to keep their "messenger" on the PC, claiming it is necessary for OE (I bet it's a fat lie). If you try to unistall that you may notice it's not possible the normal way ...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But...they are a huge American company.
  • mercury81, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And Marketing people wonder why they are always the first ones laid off.
  • orangetiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1why not spend that money to look more like a competant company rather then a small company? Whatever just get your annoying ads off my tv.
  • muikano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2this is stupid. Microsoft's bad publicity comes from it's past action. Those that are geeky know ms sucks because their business practices stifle innovation. Those that aren't geeky may not know how Microsoft extorts money from them, but they feel it in their everyday lives. It's like a dagger.

    No amount of advertising can reverse 10 years worth of choking. But, ask yourself, why the PR image polishing now? I mean, it already has a stranglehold on the industry. As long as the new versions of Office Suite, and Windows work adequetely well, their golden.

    See, here's the rub. Public opinion matters in government. What does Microsoft need so much public goodwill for? Why do they want the public to see Microsoft as not a "huge" monopoly?
    There are 3 possibilities. A) they are going into the hardware business.
    B) They are merging with another big company. Possibly Toshiba. Possibly GE.
    C) They are introducing a new incentive to dive into the government sector.

    Possibly, all 3 even.
  • dep01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Microsoft: Because Google is the Evil Company Now."
  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It's fighting the fact that it IS a huge American company. I'd say that's a pretty uphill battle there.

    Way to go Microsoft, create an oxymoron out of yourself once again.
  • Chasin_Fat_Kids, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3in denial?
  • kazsymonds, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3lol, the 120 million will make them smaller by defenition, thats ironic.

    I dont see what M$ has to prove here.
  • Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Microsoft's products are a threat to national security. Their shoddy security and pervasiveness has left our infostructure wide open to be packed with back doors and time-bombs to be deployed when we really get into an infowar.

    They'd do better to spend that money on security.
  • Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2More ironic still: Microsoft bought out a tiny software developer called Giant Company for their antivirus technology.
  • barbarac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think many here are mising the point. It's not about MS being peceived as a huge company, but as a huge AMERICAN company.

    I suggest you read the original article before you blindly company bash.
  • topper24hours, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"MS is a fine company. They do pretty much whatever any other large company would do"

    *****.... not every large company does this kind of crap. I'm talking about them threatening PC manufacturers w/ not selling them their OS if they include a shortcut to Netscape on the desktop, the CEO saying "I'll ***** kill Google", while EVERY pc components price drops, they continually raise their OS + Office suite prices, etc.
  • lordsandwich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1LOL, this is like Big Tobacco launching a quit-smoking campaign... oh, wait.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Micro.. who?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What's a PC? :)
  • lollerskates, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1lumiras wrote: "By the way, for those people that think that MS could spend the money on some sort of charitable endevor, you all should be reminded that Bill and Melinda Gates are two of the world's largest donors to charitable organizations. They have donated billions of dollars to various research projects, so I think that Mr. Gate's karma is pretty good right now

    And yes, why do people think that just because a company is profitable and successful, they are evil? So Microsoft makes billions of dollars? so what! That's their job, I don't know if any of you noticed that. The objective of a company is to make a positive bank balance at the end of the day, plain and simple"

    Well, I'm not saying that their contributions are meaningless, it's just that they're less valuable than, say, volunteering because it's a drop in the bucket for Gates. A few hundred million is nothing when you've got a few hundred billion. Many people probably give the same percentage of their income to charities. Regardless of how helpful it was, it's just another PR gig for Gates.

    And as for the guy who said how we would be praising this if Apple did it: well, 90% of the world does not run OS X. Apple isn't even as big as Dell (though it's growing faster), how could it possibly be as large as MS?
  • bonzooznob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Put $120M towards fixing the bugs in the programs you have already released, and THE USERS will think that you are on THEIR SIDE, and not a HUGE company that WASTES MONEY on Marketing.
  • Leonffs, on 11/20/2009, -0/+1Microsoft. It's like cheese, you can listen to outside.

    If Microsoft goes the way of annoying hiphop ads then thats it, i'm done.
  • samesong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"'We are often perceived as a huge American company,' Lucero said Friday in an interview"
    "I'll be damned! I can completely relate to Microsoft!", says 32 year old Billy Bob, who weighs in at just over 350 pounds, "People perceive me as an enourmously large American, and I can't figure out why!"
  • anagami, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1What about ereasing the image of the BSOD-prone Windows?
  • zwilliams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ arudgick:

    Its because there is no money for them to make for donating to cancer research.

    @ demagogue:

    Did you even think that comment out before typing it? Apple is not a big company so why are they going to spend $120 milllion dollars to look small?
  • Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0contrary to what you read on digg....people who have hate for microsoft are a very small number compared to the general public...like oh maybe 2 percent...lmao
  • Namain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Me thinks that if they have $120 Million to spend of killing this image it pretty much means that they ARE a HUGE company, and they also happen to be american. So they want to have the image of being everything that they aren't?
  • Heavy_C, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ironic.
  • rodococoloco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does a "HUGE Company" image matter when you control a RIDICULOUS % of the world's OS market?

    Such a waste of money... they should work on their SECURITY issues and all the useless code still dragged around in WindBLows.
  • GloriousNight, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1But they're not a huge company. They're just a huge society of thieves, what with the stealing of code and whatnot.
  • xakto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Funniest headline ever
  • llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I promise not to think of them as a big company if they give me 1 milllion. Ok so who else is with me? Only 119 million left.
  • steved3298, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That is a humongous undertaking and will be a tough challenge. However, since most of the country/world does not now of alternatives they see Microsoft as the only company and showing alternatives and how small a percentage they have would just uphold their image of a "huge company".

    In the end I think Microsoft is really just trying to stop the image of a monopoly that the EU settlements has brought.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Microsoft is an oxymoron, haha.
  • MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmmm...they have been reading about Walmart lately, have they?

    A gentler, kinder Microsoft where we have contributed to schools all over world....blah blah blah...PR is rubbish, reminds me governmental tactics to ensure the flock doesnt revolt.
  • link_36p, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Small companies cant afford to spend 12 mill for a lost cause......
  • mistshadow2k4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"And yes, why do people think that just because a company is profitable and successful, they are evil?"

    It's not their success that makes them evil, it's what they've done to monopolize the market to get rid of all competition isntead of actually competing, cheat their customers (did they ever fix Windows ME? No!) and screw over their business partners. If you don't know what I'm talking about do some research.
  • czack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Bleh, I think headlines will always be a problem with digg. C'mon man, if your gonna put "HUGE Company" in quotes, you minus well quote it. The actual article just had 'HUGE' with emphasis quotes. But thats besides the point.

    I think this is an excellent stratagey for Microsoft, because inevitably, HUGE and American together spell doom for a Western company trying to do buisiness in the East.
  • wjglenn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0RTFA: The article clearly suggests that Microsoft is not trying to dissuade people from thinking it is a HUGE American company. Rather to dissuade people from thinking it is a huge AMERICAN company, when 1/3 of its profits come from overseas.
  • Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0By the way, for those people that think that MS could spend the money on some sort of charitable endevor, you all should be reminded that Bill and Melinda Gates are two of the world's largest donors to charitable organizations. They have donated billions of dollars to various research projects, so I think that Mr. Gate's karma is pretty good right now

    And yes, why do people think that just because a company is profitable and successful, they are evil? So Microsoft makes billions of dollars? so what! That's their job, I don't know if any of you noticed that. The objective of a company is to make a positive bank balance at the end of the day, plain and simple
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