The OEM has released a spoof 1980s advertisement for the PageWide technology.
AdWeek reported on the advert, in which it stated that the OEM is “advertising its real, modern printers on [a] fake, awkward ‘80s computer show”, adding that the advert is on a “fine line between effective ‘80s homage and clumsy retro spoof” and hit “the sweet spot perfectly with its recreation of a Reagan-era public access show about technology, but with a fish-out-of-water spin”.
The six-minute advert (which you can view below), called Computer Show, was made by Giant Spoon and Sandwich Video, and features host Gary Fabert “stuck in time – stilted stage manner, goofy haircut and all”, while his guests are “current-day tech pioneers”, and “awkward hilarity ensues”. The video focuses on a “print-off” between a PageWide machine and a dot-matrix machine from “the neighbourhood ‘Kwikopy’”, with Fabert asking “why would you ever need to print anything?”
He also likens the machine to one of “those hats with two cans of beer”, and “doesn’t quite get how a computer and printer communicate with each other”, asking two executives “for clues”, but is “thrilled with the resulting full-colour mugshot of himself”. Computer Show actually already exists as a parody show, with this “the first time it’s been sponsored by a brand”, and has become a “cult fave in tech circles”.
The show is a “faithful remake” of an 1980s show on the US PBS network called Computer Chronicles, the HP Inc video ending with a “haiku-like coda” and hieroglyphics, cave drawings and the Gutenburg press, asking “what does it mean?”