VIDEO: Mac and PC's overseas adventures

The Wall Street Journal chronicles how Apple Inc. took its popular Mac Vs. PC ad around the world, but it wasn't as easy as recasting the characters (watch the Japan version):

In the American ads, made by Omnicom Group Inc.'s TBWA\Chiat\Day, a nerdy PC guy keeps getting trumped by his hip Mac counterpart, who uses pointed banter that demonstrates how Macs are better. In one recent spot, PC is proudly having a camera taped to his head so he can do video chatting -- only to discover that Mac already has a built-in camera. In another, PC is flanked by a gruff security guard who insists on getting his permission each time Mac tries to say something to him, meant to represent security in Microsoft's new Vista operating system for PCs.

But in Japanese culture, where direct-comparison ads have long been frowned upon, it's rude to brag about one's strengths. So for Japanese versions of the ads that rolled out last fall, two local comedians from a troupe called the Rahmens made subtle changes to emphasize that Macs and PCs are not that different. Instead of clothes that cast PC clearly as a nerd and Mac as a hipster, PC wears plain office attire and Mac weekend fashion, highlighting the work/home divide between the devices more than personality differences. In the first ad of the series, Mac even gives PC a nickname: waaku -- a playful Japanese version of the word "work."

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