Well, the smartest thing I have heard said in the comments is "we are not the audience".

First off, having run a marketing company for 20 years, I look at this differently.

First, these kinds of ads work... the story and not the hard-sell. No, the general population who may be interested in doing a site for themselves don't really dare what the admin looks like. Or how it works. They want to hear what a new site will do for them. Basic marketing 101.

And although we find the distinction muddy here between .com and self-hosted, the fact is self-hosted cannot be sold to the general public. And talk about a boring commercial if it tried to explain.

I honestly think this campaign it to grow awareness and just the start. Getting the name of WordPress out in front of millions of people. Building the brand and not the functionality to the public. Remember, we all have been asking to steps to be taken to make WordPress even more popular... these are just some of the first.

Again, from experience we are our own worst critiques. I can't tell you how many times the clients we worked with went down the same path. They were to close to the product or service, and as I said, we are not the audience.

Just my .02.