Apple's banner ads are cute, but could they survive bad news?

The problem with (or virtue of) most banner ads is they just sit there apart from the content, like wallpaper. No wonder so few people click on them. But Apple and TBWA have been playing with the medium a bit in recent online ads that show John Hodgman and Justin Long (PC and Mac, respectively) interacting with the copy on the page. Not real copy—it would be weird to see them talking about prosecutors blocking access to DNA testing for inmates on NYTimes.com, for instance—but planted information, like a banner in the newest execution showing that Apple ranks No. 1 in customer service, according to Forrester Research. Hodgman also interacts with an ad for a toupee company way over on the left column, but tells the "Before" guy to pipe down after he goes on about how easy Macs are to use. As a stunt, this is pretty clever stuff, but the context may be a bit off. Would you want to hear Mac and PC's cutesy banter if The New York Times were reporting some horrible event on its front page that day?

—Posted by Todd Wasserman