If you really think that, giving it more attention isn't a great way to combat it. I'm sure they knew full well that there was going to be some negative reactio

If you really think that, giving it more attention isn't a great way to combat it. I'm sure they knew full well that there was going to be some negative reaction, but that the trade off for brand awareness (so much free coverage of their ad campaign) and introducing some level of doubt in some consumers' minds was worth it (see: negative political attack ads, Mark Penn, etc). (and bringing up Bing copying Google's search results, and the ad campaign backfiring and somehow leading to chromebook sales isn't going to lend itself to a non-stupid HN discussion)