Advertising 101: When you have a lousy product to sell, don’t sweat it. Just overshadow the shortcomings of the thingamabob with an even lousier advertising campaign.

That’s what Microsoft did to push their Songsmith music maker program. I must admit, the following ad made me want to go out and get a bootleg copy of the program so I, too, can sing painfully off key to a bad ass Barney beat. But I later realized that I don’t know anyone lame enough to have a version of Songsmith hiding up inside their computer, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna pay to get my copy the legit way. So, I guess I’ll just have to become a failed musician the good old-fashioned way.

Guitar Hero, anyone?

(And yes, This. Is. Real.)

Tags: advertising, Commercial, Irony, Microsoft, So bad it's good, Songsmith