Motorola was doing its best to win the Super Bowl of technology at Super Bowl XLV. They made sure their name was prominently displayed on the head coaches’ headsets. The idea was to give the viewer the sense that Motorola was responsible for every play update and discussion the teams were communicating. That will probably be the only real memory anyone will have about a technology company trying to sell hardware at a major sporting event. The company’s attempt to make operating systems compete at the super bowl just left viewers saying, “what?”

In an attempt to make fun of Apple’s white decor, the technology giant did a spin-off on an old Apple computer Super Bowl ad from years past. Everything was white. All characters, except one, were wearing gloomy hoodies. No one was smiling. The guy clad in regular clothes was busily trying to create a virtual bouquet of flowers on his little computer tablet to give to one of the emotionless women in white while she stood in her cubicle. OK. It was weird. Most people thought it was a weird commercial selling Apple technology and operating systems, but it was, in fact, a commercial selling Motorola’s version of a tablet computer.

It’s safe to say that this particular play needs to be ripped from the playbook. No one will remember that Motorola has hardware comparable to Apple’s by that bizarre ad. It was a weak attempt at being cool, but truthfully, it just highlighted that Apple is still the king of technological hipness.