Norton: Deny Digital Dangers…

I’m no expert on Asian culture, but right away I picked up on something about this ad and I could be wrong about it. From my understanding, older women don’t wear their hair down (if it’s long). Instead they have a shorter “mom” haircut (mother or not) or they have it pinned back and up. So to see this woman like this I immediately thought 2 things. Either she saw a ghost or she is a ghost. I’m sure the former of the 2 is what the art director was going for. If she was a young woman (not wearing a nightie), this wouldn’t look strange at all. She could be a J-pop star.

Symantec is selling a prevention benefit. Also, I thought that maybe the ghost said to her, “Install Norton Security, or you’ll be verrrry sorrrrry.” Therein lies the paranoia. In my experience, Symantec is harder to get rid of than any virus. Using Norton is like signing over digital power of attorney. It will have a say in every facet of my computer usage. And combined with Windows Vista, I could see it being a real nightmare.

This action requires administrative approval. Norton does not approve of your chosen administrator. Would you like for Norton to remotely assign you a new one? Allow? Deny?

Overall, it’s an interesting concept. This is one of those instances where fear-mongering doesn’t do more harm than good (see: politics).

Rolling Stone November 2010