UPDATE: I'm pretty sure this is a worrisome trend, really. Zipatoni, the marketing firm behind this thing, is apparently an old hand at these "fake viral" campaigns; and just the other day I actually saw an ad for Ziddio, a company that bills itself (in a semi-tongue-in-cheek manner) as being able to make viral videos for you and get them injected into the bloodstream of the body politic. "Activating consumers" indeed.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that as we watch both Sony and Microsoft fall all over themselves trying to pose as "hip" youth characters, with the inevitable result that they're found out within hours—the "Mac" character in the PC/Mac ads is exactly what they're trying to emulate, and does it convincingly: not by rapping and l33t-speaking, but by being polite and well-spoken in casual attire. Talk about counterintuitive.

...Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, no, I am not being paid by Apple. Some word-of-mouth advertising is spontaneous.

UPDATE: Hey, Microsoft actually seems to have learned something about how to respond to populist broadsides in good humor. Now, I don't think the point made is all that compelling; but fair's fair, and it is actually rather funny.

UPDATE: So's this, though I feel like it shouldn't be. (Via Marcus.)