Hard to believe, but according to Apple's recent 10-K filing this week, the technology company spent just over $500 million in fiscal 2009 on its advertising budget, with the bulk of the funds going toward those memorably smarmy "Get a Mac" TV spots, according to Fortune Magazine.

That seems like a lot of money. Consider the following:

* Apple's ad budget is bigger than the President's. A U.S. presidential candidate usually spends around $300 to $400 million in campaign funds to run for office these days(Sen. John McCain spent $346 million in the 2008 election, while President Obama spent $513 million).

* Apple's $500 million ad budget matches Facebook's expected revenue for this year (Twitter will make around $4 million, in case you were wondering).

* Apple's ad budget was larger than the biggest movie of 2009, "Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen," which earned $402 million domestically (impressive number, considering the movie was awful).

Still, it's a lot less money than Dell reportedly spent on advertising -- $811 million -- for the same period. And truthfully, I can't remember seeing a single Dell ad. Remember when the computer maker was the king of branding and was running those clever "Dude, you're getting a Dell?" TV spots? Seems like a very long time ago, doesn't it.

And Apple's $500 million ad budget seems like a steal compared to Microsoft's $1.4 billion. To be fair, Microsoft has had some successful campaigns over the last year. But there have also been some stinkers (I'm looking at you, Jerry Seinfeld).

Meanwhile, the "Get a Mac" campaign continues to roll after three years -- three years! -- and somehow I'm the only person that seems to be annoyed by the constant barrage of "Mac" and "PC" banter. Haven't they run out of jokes yet after 60-plus commercials? Do I really need to be bombarded with three different anti-Windows 7 spots in the same hour? Why can't i get that little piano ditty out of my head?

I'd argue that the camapign should be retired, but it's obviously given Apple a lot of bang for its buck, and the commercials themselves have become part of pop culture lexicon. So it looks like I'll just have to suck it up and brace myself for more of these ads -- just like Microsoft.