Microsoft's "Lauren and Sue" Laptop Hunter ad was quietly edited and re-released without a line mentioning the actual price of Apple's laptops. The change followed a phone call from Apple's legal team to Microsoft apparently asking to have the ads pulled because MacBook prices had been lowered.
The revamped "Lauren and Sue" ad cut out Lauren commenting "This Mac is $2,000, and that's before adding anything." The updated version now shows Lauren saying "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand," according to Advertising Age.
Microsoft COO Kevin Turner told attendees at the company's Worldwide Parter Conference last week that the ads showing shoppers choosing Windows-based PCs over Macs because of price were working. He said "And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, 'Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.' They took like $100 off or something."
Mr. Turner vowed to continue running the ads and said that the call from Apple was the best he's ever taken. Microsoft's plans to continue running the ads, however, apparently includes editing them to remove specific price references to Apple's computers.
So far it appears that "Lauren and Sue" is the only Laptop Hunter ad that's been edited.