Super Creepy Laptop Ad

19 May, 2025

We don't pay for Youtube premium so we get hit with an ad every 2-3 minutes while watching a video. Today one of the ads was for a new Microsoft Surface. I didn't even know they still made the Surface.

Anyway, the ad starts with this guy in his empty grey house with a slightly darker grey Surface. He is up and checking his email for the day while making coffee. The voice over talks about how easy it is to get up and just start checking emails because the Surface is so small it can go anywhere.

Ok, that's a totally rational use for a tablet.

Next scene. Our guy is taking his coffee to the kitchen table to eat and do more emails. Seems normal enough. But I start to notice the interior of this house. It's not barren as in empty, it's barren as in staged. It's not a realistic house. There is nothing on the counters, nothing in the living room, nothing to let you know this guy does anything other than sit and work at his screen all day.

Now it jumps to him sitting outside. Yay he is outside! On the tablet. I think a dog runs behind him? I can't remember at this point, but our guy is oblivious, locked in to the screen. It's at this point the voice over explains he is teaching a class.

Cut to a sterile living room now, it's later in the day and he is eating dinner. Again, with the Surface because he is grading the students work. Our guy is super happy when using this thing too, never not smiling.

Now he is chilling for the evening, work is over and it's time it and use the tablet to watch videos and listen to music. Our dude is even more happy because the battery life on this sucker will let you use it for the entire day. You never have to put it away. You always have something to do on it. You carry it everywhere. It's your one source for work, communication, and entertainment. You need no other forms of interaction.

He wakes up. Checks device. Eats breakfast while using device. Preps for work on the device. Conducts work on the device. Uses the device as entertainment during non working minutes of the day. As portable as this thing is he only takes it from the bed, to the kitchen table, to the back yard, to the living room, and then back to bed. He can do 18 hours of continuous on demand work thanks to the portability and energy sipping battery.

THIS IS AN AD IN FAVOR OF THE DEVICE.

Spend your entire day on the device! Spend your money on a nice house and dog but ignore it because all you need is DEVICE!

I know it wasn't Microsoft's intention to make an ad look so bleak but wow. As someone who has their phone glued to their hand all day this ad made me take a step back and worry about this dudes life.

He has a very nice house and yard and dog, does he have a significant other? Does he have time to meet anyone being on the tablet all day? Are they in their own clinically furnished house watching vertical videos on a TV turned sideways on the wall? Have firemen shown up to remove all the books from their house? Has his boss sent folks over to make sure he isn't using an iPad?

Hard. Yikes.