Have you seen the new Microsoft TV commercial bashing Apple?

Crispin Porter + Boguksy, the agency that produced the ad, has clearly hit a nerve. The campaign goes directly at what may be Apple’ biggest vulnerability: the growing differential between Macs, which have largely held their prices throughout the recession, and PCs running Windows, which have been engaged in a brutal price war that forced the industry’s ASP (average selling price) down more than 13% in the last quarter of 2008 alone.

The deepest cut comes when the “average shopper” says:

“‘I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.”

Brilliant marketing, Microsoft.

No one cares that …

“Lauren” is an actress, not the ordinary American shopper the ad claims

The Apple Store scene was faked; before-and-after photos suggest that she never actually went into the store to try the computers

The $699 HP Pavillion dv7 she chose over a $999 MacBook is a mess. “It is the epitome of what people dislike about PCs,” writes Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub. “It runs Vista Home on a slow AMD mobile processor … its screen is abysmal … its networking is five years old … it is loaded with crapware and trial antivirus software that will have to be purchased or wiped off the machine.”

Fortune – How Microsoft put Apple owners on the defensive