Microsoft tries to persuade that Surface isn't iPad (again)

In its latest effort to promote its tablet-PC hybrid, Microsoft features the NFL -- the league whose game commentators have been known to refer to the Surface as 'iPad-like.'

Microsoft/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Microsoft will not give up.

It will keep on trying to make you understand that its Surface is the bright blue thing to be seen with.

True, there have been a few advertising mishaps along the way. The infamous twirling short-skirted teenies, for example. But Microsoft will not be deterred or interred.

In a new ad, the company has decided to feature its vast financial commitment (said to be $400 million) to the NFL.

This sponsorship hasn't gone as well as been hoped. Too many of the NFL's announcers have referred to the device as 'iPad-like.' Astoundingly, the NFL hasn't found a way to suspend them for at least six games for this heinous offense.

This latest ad features the Seattle Seahawks, some deeply moving, contemporary music and an atmosphere of dark foreboding.

There's strategy, aggression and more than a hint of Nike and Beats. Perhaps Redmond feels that if it can align itself with that sort of mood, the cool people of the world will feel comfortable being seen with a Surface in their hands.The only problem is that the company is starting from behind.

Still, the Seahawks were once a terrible team. Now they are, as Americans like to say with myopic abandon, 'World Champions.' Microsoft can dream. This is a good thing.