Twenty years ago, Apple debuted one of its more iconic ads when it introduced actors Justin Long and comedian John Hodgman as “a Mac” and “a PC.” While Long was the trendy, fresh Mac, Hodgman was an uptight, awkward PC. The campaign continued until 2010, which is when the company ended its Get a Mac campaign once and for all.
Since then, each of the actors have appeared in a few parodies and ad campaigns. For example, when Apple introduced the Mac with Apple Silicon, John Hodgman made a cameo during the Apple event questioning the existence of the M1 chips, which were promoted as being better than similar PC chips and were even more powerful than Intel Macs. Then, in 2021, Intel made a campaign where the Mac guy, Justin Long, appeared as a “real person comparing Mac and PC.”
However, an even more surprising reunion just happened in 2026 in an Ozempic commercial. Due to the popularity of this diabetes medication to help people lose weight, it opened the path for tons of other medications with a similar purpose to become available in the U.S. and elsewhere. That seems to be the impetus for Ozempic creating an ad campaign to highlight the fact that “there’s only one Ozempic.”
The Mac guy is now Ozempic?
In the ad, which you can find here, the two actors participate in “GLP-1 Trivia,” where Justin represents Ozempic and Hodgman represents “Other GLP-1s for type 2 diabetes.” The presenter asks them to name “the only GLP-1 for type 2 diabetes that’s FDA-approved to lower the risk of worsening chronic kidney diseases,” to which the “Other GLP-1 for type 2 diabetes” participant responds: “Ozempic.”
The more confounding part of the ad comes next, as Justin Long spends nearly three minutes reading the important safety information about the medication. After all, even though this medication has become overwhelmingly popular and millions of adults have started taking GLP-1 drugs, it’s still a medication that shouldn’t be taken without medical approval.
According to the company behind Ozempic, the intention is to encourage people to “look beyond surface-level familiarity with GLP-1s, seek credible information, and have more significant conversations” about treatments for type 2 diabetes. “Not all GLP-1s are the same, and people with type 2 diabetes should talk with their doctors about whether Ozempic is right for them,” said Ed Cinca, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Patient Solutions at Novo Nordisk Inc. “With our campaign, we’re cutting through the noise with straightforward education about how Ozempic fits into care.” That said, who would have thought that 20 years later, the Mac guy would be teaching us about Ozempic? Maybe the PC guy will have something to say about the new MacBook Pro later this year.
