Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Apple, iPhone, 3G, ASA, Banned | Themes: Smartphones, Digital Entertainment, Business
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an iPhone 3G commercial, claiming it was misleading consumers. The ad is the second iPhone advert to be banned by the ASA this year.
The commercial in question displayed a close-up of the iPhone 3G surfing the web. A voice over stated that the iPhone 3G was better than the first generation iPhone because it was “really fast”. Apparently people had a problem that bar the fine print in the corner reading “Network performance will vary by location”, the ad showed a phone loading pages in very short spaces of time and were disappointed to discover their own iPhone 3G did not load web pages as fast.
According to VNUnet, Apple claimed that the commercial was relative rather than absolute in nature, and that referencing 3G at the start clearly indicated the advertisement was a comparison between the iPhone 3G and the older version of the Apple cell phone. The Cupertino company also said that most people would know speeds depend on a number of different factors, as is the case with all mobile phones.
The ASA concluded that the advert was misleading because a large portion of viewers would not be familiar with 3G technology and were likely to believe that the device actually operated at similar speeds to the device in the advert. Because of this, the Association asked Apple not to show the advert again “in its current form.”
While the aforementioned advert received around 17 complaints, Apple had another commercial banned by the ASA in the UK back in August. Receiving two complaints about the iPhone ad, the Authority said it had the potential to mislead customers because it said it allowed users to fully browse the web with access to “all parts of the Internet,” despite that fact that the handset does not support Java or Flash.
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Anyone else find it ironic? with teh vista and the "misleading" that the vista cable solagn supposedly did...
*capable* Also it's funny that their defense is that most people would know the "speeds depend on a number of different factors, as is the case with all mobile phones."
Well the same thing can be said with the Vista capable slogan if people did some research for once in their life. Also most people would NOT know that. I mean if they don't know what Vista Capable really means. How would know exactly what factors play in for determining the speed of a mobile phone?
To funny Apple getting its wings trimmed by the UK. Now all we need is the same thing to happen here in North America because we have a lot of the same Iphone ad's here as well & while they are at it get rid of those BS & misleading AD's for the "I'm a PC" those are totally misleading & full of BS.
19 people whined about an ad... so they can't show it on a WHOLE continent? That's FEE'd up!
I thought it was bad here, where a few 100 people could do that... but 19?!? That's sick!
not quite 'a continent' more an island of around 60-70 million. So 20 people over here is about the same proportion as 100 in the States.
Personally I would ban all apple ad's on public health grounds, their level of smugness makes me want to hurt things ...
Like i said this is a good thing & to bad we can't have the same thing happen over here. The Apple ad's are almost always full of total BS & all it does is confuse the public. But while on the subject there are a few other companies this could happen too as well that will remain nameless. It does not matter if it was just a few people that complained I am sure there were several others that just didn't take the time to do anything about it. I wish the same thing could happen here in North America as I am totally sick of most of the Apple ad's & the BS content in them it is one of the main reasons I will not own any Apple products as their AD's just turn me off of their products.
while they are at it get rid of those BS & misleading AD's for the "I'm a PC" those are totally misleading & full of BS.
I'd love to meet John Hodgman so I can give him a punch in the Stomach.
Macs are Personal Computers, and even if you exclude Macs, you don't have to be running Windows. Not to mention the amount of shit they spew. Everytime I speak to someone about a Mac, I feel like am I'm arguing with an Advertising campaign, as they usually spew nonsensical jargon and marketing phrases. We really need to abolish them.
...I'd love to meet John Hodgman so I can give him a punch in the Stomach....
It can be a tag team... just as long as I get to punch Justin Long in the throat.
I think that Apple fails to make it clear that their computers are not geared towards a "power user". Their "I'm a PC" campaign does not hold up so well against someone who needs more performance. I am sorry but a smooth OS is not going to make up for processing power. I am not angry at them for this but it still bothers me that they are so vague in their advertisement.
We get it all the time in our store people come in after messing up their computers & then complain & say oh my next computer is gonna be a Mac I am tired of how my Windows PC keeps crashing & if I owned a Mac this would not happen any more. I look at them & go heh umm ok if you say so but where did you get this idea that Mac are so much better & more stable than a windows PC. They reply oh from those TV AD's of coarse you know the ones Hi I am a Mac & I am a PC. I reply by saying you do realize that those are just TV AD's to sell you something right & that most of what they are saying is not true & that most people to realize this & just switch the channel when those AD's come on.
Just the other day a Guy comes in buys a new keyboard form us after he pays for it he goes I am tired of spending my money on my PC my next Computer is gonna be a Mac I am like what you just spent $10 on a keyboard. He goes yah if I owned a Mac the keyboard would have never failed in the first place I am like umm ok you have a nice day sir see ya. lol
I just did not know how to reply to that because someone that dumb would most likely not understand a word I would say to him to let him know how wrong he was so I just let it go.