我认为，三星（Samsung）在超级碗之前投放的商业广告非常聪明。甚至算得上出类拔萃。广告中，塞斯•罗根和保罗•路德分别饰演两位倍受商标诉讼威胁折磨的文案策划。

    这则广告以调侃的形式讽刺苹果（Apple）对三星旷日持久的专利诉讼。不过我在考虑一个问题：那些不太关注科技新闻的观众是否能理解广告背后的讽刺意味？于是，我拿这则商业广告对一些不关注科技的普通电视观众进行了测试，例如我妻子。结果，她不仅不明白广告中的笑点所在，甚至都不知道这则广告到底在卖什么产品。

    那么，三星为何会斥资一百多万美元，制作一则无法提升产品销量的商业广告呢？

    答案与一个人有关：斯科特•特拉特内。

    I thought Samsung's pre-Superbowl commercial-- the one featuring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd as copy writers hamstrung by the threat of trademark lawsuits -- was quite clever. Brilliant, even.

    But I also wondered whether the inside joke it was making -- about Apple's (AAPL) long-running legal battles with Samsung -- might go over the heads of viewers who don't follow tech news as closely as I do.

    So I tested the commercial on an unscientific sample of typical TV viewers (i.e. my wife). Not only did she not get the joke, but she had no idea what the ad was trying to sell.

    Why would Samsung spend million of dollars on a commercial that fails to sell a product?

    Two words: Scott Trattner.

    特拉特内曾担任苹果主要广告代理商TBWA/Media Arts Lab的执行创意总监，苹果公司最成功的几则广告就是特拉特内的手笔，其中包括连续上演的Get a Mac系列。去年八月，《广告时代》（Ad Age）报道称，在“Mac Genius”系列广告停播后，特拉特内便离开了TBWA/MAL。

    特拉特内的新东家是谁？72andSunny，其客户包括盖世威（K-Swiss）、塔吉特（Target）、电子游戏开发商Activision，另外一家你肯定猜到了，那就是三星。

    由于无法获知这些广告机构的内部消息，因此Mac Genius广告、特拉特内跳槽与三星的超级碗广告之间的任何联系都纯属推测。但这依然无法阻止人们的好奇心。以下为MacDailyNews网站稍微带着些偏见的预测：

“我们都知道，如果没有史蒂夫•乔布斯拍板，苹果的任何广告都无法出笼。自从乔布斯不再进行审批，苹果广告的质量便立刻一落千丈。利用名人来兜售一种测试功能（如Siri语音助手）是一种缺乏创意的偷懒行为，而且，你也看到了‘Mac Genius’广告的遭遇。如果你真的认为在奥运会前几天播放一次‘Mac Genius’广告就抵得上它们在苹果网站和YouTube频道上的全部曝光量，那我们清远把造价高昂的布鲁克林大桥送给你。”

    说到YouTube，特拉特内和三星或许会笑到最后。虽然我妻子看不懂广告的笑点，但还是有很多人明白了它背后的意义。截至周日上午，El Plato Supreme在YouTube上的点击观看次数已经达到了750万次。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Trattner was the executive creative director at Apple's top ad agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, and widely credited with some of Cupertino's most successful ad campaigns, including the long-runningGet a Mac series. In August, Ad Age reported that Trattner had left TBWA/MAL after its "Mac Genius" commercials were pulled off the air.

    Trattner's new agency? 72andSunny, whose clients include K-Swiss, Target, Activision and -- you guessed it -- Samsung.

    Without access to the inner circles of these ad agencies, any connections being made between the Mac Genius spots, Trattner's departure and Samsung's Superbowl ad are purely speculative. But that hasn't stopped anyone. Here's MacDailyNews' somewhat biased take:

    "So – just speculating here – when your marketing genius editor [i.e. Steve Jobs] dies and is no longer there to tell you it's "s..t," you immediately begin making and airing widely-panned s..t, so then you shop around your ad reel (whose quality level can be attributed to your late genius editor), quit and start working for a derivative, patent infringing, peddler of plastic s..t that's hell-bent on ripping off everything your late genius editor created – and that also has the unmitigated gall to call his products "inferior?" Sound about right to you? If so, vomitous. If not, good luck in your new endeavor, Scott!

    "We all know that nothing got on the air without Steve Jobs' stamp of approval. Once that was no longer required, the ad quality declined immediately and measurably. Celebrities hawking a beta feature [i.e. Siri] is an UNCREATIVE, LAZY move – and, you saw what happened to those "Mac Genius" ads. If you think they made a those "Mac Genius" to run once during the first few days of the Olympics only to erase all mention of them from Apple's site and Apple's YouTube channel just a few days later, we've got a nicely-priced bridge in Brooklyn with your name on it."

    Speaking of YouTube, Trattner and Samsung may yet have the last laugh. My wife doesn't get the joke, but clearly a lot of people do. By Sunday morning, El Plato Supreme had drawn 7.5 million views on YouTube.