Apple’s beloved “Underdogs” are back — and this time, they’re surviving the tech apocalypse. The company’s latest short film, The Underdogs: BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), turns a trade show disaster into a comedy masterclass about why you should never trust a PC when the stakes are high (or, apparently, ever).
The ad opens at “Container Con,” where the BetterBag team is about to show off their latest packaging breakthrough. The vibe is good, the coffee is overpriced, and the Wi-Fi is sketchy — until it all goes very wrong. In a moment that’ll trigger anyone who’s ever worked on a Windows machine, a wave of bright blue screens sweeps across the convention floor like digital dominos. Monitors freeze, keyboards die, and every vendor with a PC stares into the existential void of a system crash.
Meanwhile, in true Apple fashion, the Underdogs are completely unbothered. Their Macs, iPads, and iPhones hum along as if nothing happened — email still sending, video still streaming, AirDrop still dropping. While everyone else is rebooting for the third time, the team is bagging new business, capturing leads, and even lending a hand to a rival booth whose setup just met the Blue Screen of Doom.
Apple’s official description of the short sums it up perfectly: “The Underdogs are ready for their first-ever trade show until a PC outage strikes and the Blue Screen of Death threatens their beloved Container Con. Thanks to the security of their Apple products, the Underdogs are unaffected and experience extraordinary success.” Translation: while the competition was Ctrl+Alt+Deleting their way to oblivion, Apple just kept doing Apple things — quietly saving the day and looking cool while doing it.
The Underdogs series has always celebrated underprepared, overcaffeinated office heroes who somehow manage to pull off miracles thanks to Apple’s hardware ecosystem. From Escape from the Office to Swiped Mac, the ads mix workplace chaos with bite-sized tech flexes. This latest one might be its funniest yet — mostly because it feels a little too real for anyone who’s ever stared down a frozen Windows update at 99%.
Ultimately, BSOD is less about taking cheap shots and more about reminding you that when the lights go out, Macs don’t panic. PCs may crash, but the Underdogs — and their Apple gear — just keep shipping.
