Microsoft: 'Buy the New Windows Phone. It's Boring.'

Less Addictive Than Competitors' Phones?

"Less staring. More clubbing."

--Sales pitch, new Windows phone 7

Having let my post-election guard down a bit -- fewer political commercials to screen -- I unwittingly caught a glimpse of Microsoft's TV ad campaign for its new Windows phone.

Apparently, its message is that people who are so obsessed with their cell phones that they're oblivious to everything else are dorks and boors.

"If you can't beat them . . . make fun of them??"

That may certainly be true, and it may even be a public service to point it out.

But that still seems to be an odd message coming from a company . . . trying to steal a slice of the cell phone market.

What's next -- a food company that markets its products by saying they taste so bad, you'll eat less of them and therefore be thinner??

How about a flat panel TV maker touting a new screen so blurry you won't be tempted to watch as much?