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Apple's 'Fastest Computer' G5 TV ad banned in UK

updated 09:55 am EST, Tue November 11, 2003

G5 commercial banned in UK

PA News Reporter reports that Apple UK has been " from claiming its latest product is 'the world�s fastest, most powerful personal computer'. The claim was made in a television advert for the Apple PowerMac G5. But the Independent Television Commission branded the advert �misleading� and banned it from being broadcast. Eight viewers contacted the ITC to complain that the claim was based on the results of limited tests in which the specification of the computers used was configured to give Apple the best results.... But the ITC found that the claim was not supported by independent reviews and that, at best, the G5 was only 'generally as fast' as its competitors."

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11/11, 10:04am | report spam | close Reply |
Puhleeese!

Ok who sets the standard for what is fast? If they say:
"The fastest computer in the world!"
-Steve Jobs

is that OK?

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11/11, 10:06am | report spam | close Reply |
This will...

keep the folks at Chiat Day up at night! Hopefully the UK wont ban the new 15 AL Powerbook ads with the slogan "the world's most white-spotted-LCD laptop"... 'cause, hey, that's true!

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11/11, 10:25am | report spam | close Reply |
It probably will...

...be true again when the next batch of faster processors comes out. I believe the current dual G5 WAS the worlds fastest back when they announced it at WWDC but since then some other processors have become 'generally as fast'.

It's still funny that somebody would actually take the time to cal in and complain. Apparently the US isn't the only country where people have way too much time on their hands. :)

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11/11, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply |
8 viewers?

What's the betting that those 8 people who complained have some connection to the Wintel side of the industry? Whether they work for MS, Intel, AMD, HP, Dell or some no-name box builder they all have something to gain by keeping those ads off the air.

And is anyone complaining about the seriously misleading Intel Centrino ads that are on at the moment?

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11/11, 10:28am | report spam | close Reply |
fine print

why dont they just add some fine print at the end like those purple pill comercials .. u know .. could cause bloating , red eye or death .

so apple could say .. fastest computer..

could be slower if your a dumbass and download limewire and leave it open in the background. or are a PC user and are closed minded .

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11/11, 10:40am | report spam | close Reply |
good

this kind of stuff needs better policing. fastest my a**.

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11/11, 10:41am | report spam | close Reply |
This is just the

beginning....

In the US on FMC a showing of 'CC' movies was asaulted by a group of special interest 'asian americans' panel that had their say before and after the shows.... lol.

Chan was played by a sweedish white man, who portrayed a genius chinese detective from Hawaii.... how can they have a problem with that?

In this case: 8 viewers?
The UK sucks even more now.
I guess the English don't only have bad teeth, they are stupid too.

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11/11, 10:54am | report spam | close Reply |
Me thinks the Brits

The Brits protest too much, me thinks. Sure the Apple line over-simplifies... all ads do. There's a lot of other ads more clearly deserving being busted for "false advertising." Apple sure has a better basis for making that claim than anybody else in the running right now.

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11/11, 10:58am | report spam | close Reply |
Charlie Chan moves

Why don't you ask "them" why they might possibly have a problem with Charlie Chan movies... you might also ask some black people why they might have a problem with minstrel shows, etc. (specifically white actors dressing up in blackface). You focus on the admirable qualities of the Charlie Chan character, but the reason that many Asians have a problem with him is exactly because a) he was a Chinese character played by a Swedish actor and b) he may have had admirable qualities, but there were also extreme and offensive stereotypes and exaggerations in how he was portrayed. Not that these were uncommon at he time, but most Asian people would be able to tell you why they would be offended by them. I know it may be hard for you to put yourself in their position, which is why I suggest actually reading about what people found offensive about him, and also what people found offensive about minstrel shows, mammy characters, etc. that used to be quite common.

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11/11, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
Lies???

Geez, I hope this trend doesn't continue. Next think you know, ALL advertisers will start lying. Then, it will work our way into the government. What would we do if our Presidents start lying?? (no new taxes, I did not have sexual relations..., WMD's, I swear we saw them!)

Ummm.. isn't advertising all about bending the truth? Every other product I see on television uses one type of deception or another to lure customers in. Big deal...

and seeing as the G5 is 64 bit (and had no competition at the time), then I would have labeled it the fastest computer too! Ok, so it doesnt perform the fastest, but maybe they meant in thoery. like if the OS and apps were 64 bit! =)

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11/11, 11:12am | report spam | close Reply |
Apple has been...

...pulling the wool over users eyes since the iMac... I bought one - it was c*** - cute but c*** - the logic board, video board, power supply & HD were all replaced within ~3 months (under warranty) & then I sold the darn thing...

OS-X was not an 'upgrade' from OS-9 in that it was (is) dog slow, the browsers don't work with sites I need, I still don't know of a newsreader that rivals Outlook...

It's one thing to have nice graphics & industrial design (which I love) but that is skin deep - Apple is great at marketing to the EGO of buyers - think 'different' really means 'bleeding edge' - Jobs is evangelistic as a sales guy - the G5 ads are part of that EGO trip... WAKE UP EVERYBODY!!! ;-)

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11/11, 11:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Brit viewers have power!

Just think: If we had that kind of power in the U.S. maybe all the anti-war protestors would have gotten their way!

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11/11, 11:14am | report spam | close Reply |
Advertising Standards..

.. in the UK are strict.

When I first moved to the US from the UK, I was amazed at the TV commercials you show. They are often just lies. So calling the English stupid and commenting on their teeth really just plays into the stereotype that Americans are brash, loud, ignorant people who stop at nothing to make a buck. You want that?

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11/11, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Stereotypes

Don't forget that americans are burger-munching lard asses too

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11/11, 11:21am | report spam | close Reply |
Charlie Chan

It would make sense to me if the Chinese man "Chan" was a bungling black face painted white guy, but no, he was the most respected detective! A hero you f****** moron....

This has no similarity between white actors painted as black faced... none at all.

Dumbfuck.

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11/11, 11:40am | report spam | close Reply |
Advertising watchdogs...

struck another blow against misleading advertisements this morning when they banned Prince Charles' personal ad in the London Times. The advert promised responders a Royally g** time. Watchdogs state that, at best, Prince Charles was only 'generally as g**' as his competitors.

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11/11, 11:50am | report spam | close Reply |
Could be worse...

So we Britons have standards, it just wouldn't be Britain without them. They will just have to change their slogan to:

'Probably, the world�s fastest, most powerful personal computer'

Could have been worse, Steve Jobs could have been caught in bed with one of his hardware engineers!

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11/11, 11:57am | report spam | close Reply |
Wierd But True

The sad fact of the matter is that tests by PCWorld and MacWorld show that a dual G5 is about as fast as a top of the line dual PC. If anything, the results from PCWorld are more favorable to the G5 than the MacWorld results.

Now I don't want to hear a lot of buts (but Mac OS X and most Mac apps are not optimized for 64 bit computing...but those Intel chips have to be 30% high clock speeds in order to complete tasks faster) because they do not really matter. What matters is the here and now. And in the here and now, the G5 is not the hands down winner.

Having said that, I think we do have a lot to be hopeful for. Running an un-optimized OS to run un-optimized (or partially optmized) applications, on a chip that is 30% lower clock speed than the competition, a G5 holds its own nicely.

And it does have to be said that the English love to make, "Much Ado About Nothing." :-D

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11/11, 12:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
How about changing it to:

"Generally.. the fastest computer in the world"

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11/11, 12:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
Free Speech

This is a simple matter of free speech. People or companies should be able to say whatever they want, even if its a lie, as long as its not libel or slander. The way of stopping this is NOT to restrict free speech, but to USE free speech to oppose it.

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11/11, 12:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Apple has been

OS-X was not an 'upgrade' from OS-9 in that it was (is) dog slow, the browsers don't work with sites I need, I still don't know of a newsreader that rivals Outlook...

Ummm, it was never touted as an upgrade from OS 9. And if the browsers don't work in OS X, how in the world do they work in 9 (since the browsers in 9 are all out-dated and EOL'd for years). And if you can't find a newsreader better than outlook, maybe you should (a) look for some, or (b) complain to MS that they haven't upgraded outlook for OS X. It isn't Apple's responsibility to make sure every app you think is superior gets upgraded or even built.

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11/11, 12:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Charlie Chan

Didn't you even watch the movies and discussion on FMC? It was just a panel discussion arguning over the movies as stereotypes. It wasn't like it prevented you from watching the movies (there was no "This scene cut due to racial insensitivity" messages). And it wasn't like FMC HAD to show the panel in order to show the movies. I've seen all the movies before within the last year without all that. It was an interesting add-on to educate some viewers who may not have realized some things previously.

Oh, and I saw the same thing with some Tarzan movies as well and how blacks viewed them. Not being black, it was interesting to see a different point of view.

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11/11, 12:43pm | report spam | close Reply |
Serves them right...

I'm a huge Apple supporter and I'd love to have a G5, but I have to say that I think it's ridiculous Apple makes claims like this that simply aren't true. Basically no one has proven it's the single fastest computer out there across the board, so they should either quality in what regards the G5 is fastest, or they shouldn't say it at all. It undermines the entire product when they claim something that is ultimately disproved. And now, with this British thing, Apple is being humiliated for the deception.

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11/11, 12:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
It cuts both ways ...

Here in the UK Trading Standards have assisted those of us who ordered Panther from the online Apple Store based on the tag line "Order now for evening delivery on 24 October"; but then didn't recieve our order until two weeks later.

With regard to free speech vs. advertising regulation; speaking personally, I'd perfer a certain level of regulation: I don't have the time or the resources to check out every ad I see. It's good that here in the UK we have very robust consumer-protection regulation.

It's also good that the Advertising Standards Agency responds to as few as eight complaints; we're not talking about a democratic decision here, but a statement of fact. One complaint should be enough.

As a fan of Apple's products, of course I'm disappointed that the Apple ad cannot be shown because the G5 is an amazing computer, but if I want to benefit from a fair then we all have to play by the rules -- even Apple.

To those who say that the "UK sucks even more now" and "I guess the English don't only have bad teeth, they are stupid too", all I can say is that I'm sorry that you cannot be more adult about this. If Apple wants to sell computers in my country, then they'll have to abide by the rules in my country. Let's face it, it's the least you'd expect of a UK-based company who wanted to sell their goods in the US marketplace.

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11/11, 12:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
Free speech?

Yes, of course it's a free speech right to tell people things that are most likely wrong in adverts. After all, why would we want legislation intended to stop people being conned out of their hard earned cash? If you actually believe that, you're dumber than that message makes you out to look.

The plain fact is the UK has different standards of what an advert can and cannot say - the broad sense of which is in the US you can say anything that isn't apparently untrue, whereas in the UK you can only say things which you can prove. A subtle but important difference in this case.

It also illustrates a point I've been thinking about for a while. Apple makes all its ads for the US market, not the world market. Since both countries speak english, they didn't even bother redoing the ad voiceover to local mannerisms and language quirks (and advertising regulations) when they put it on screens in the UK. Apple was lazy, and frankly it got caught out.

I think some of the posts about it being petty to complain in this case are quite right but the rules are the rules and the ITC was simply applying them fairly as it does in all cases. if Apple had bothered to read the rules, it wouldn't have had a foul called against it. All that was needed was to rescript and rerecord one line in the voiceover, but they didn't think it was important. Now they know different. Although it has to be said, the fact that the ad has got banned has got them a lot of free publicity, so I dare say they're quite happy.

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11/11, 01:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Does NOT serve them right

At the time of introduction, the benchmarks were pretty clear. It was the fastest thing out there. Not at every task, and it was not hard to craft a benchmark where something else won, but the claim was real, and consumers need to be reasonably sophisticated about their needs.

It is the same as two car companies claiming to have the fastest car, because one does better in the quarter mile, and one has a higher top speed. Any consumer for whom this is a deciding issue has to be educated enough to know what _they_ need performance on.

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11/11, 01:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
I haven't seen these ads

.. in a while in the US. Could just be my market but I thnk after a few months the point was lost. Apple has never been known to run an ad until it gets stale anyway.

"So fast we got banned from advertising it..."

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11/11, 02:25pm | report spam | close Reply |
Free speech? Yes!

I think most people have proven that at some point in time the G5 was the fastest in certain programs. That's all that should have to be proven. I mean is there a British guideline that dictates exactly what one must prove in order to claim they are the fastest computer? As we all know, it's not so cut and dry.

Of course it's a free speech right to say what you want in ads. Haven't you heard of caveat emptor? The idea is that buyers take responsibility for the condition of the items they purchase and should examine them before purchase. I know that Britain has their own rules on that and they must be followed. But if the rule goes as far as letting 8 people shut down an ad that can be proven in some contexts, then my friends, you have have some bad rules in place.

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11/11, 02:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Free Speech

"This is a simple matter of free speech. People or companies should be able to say whatever they want, even if its a lie, as long as its not libel or slander. The way of stopping this is NOT to restrict free speech, but to USE free speech to oppose it."

I don't agree. Only individuals should have the right to free speech, because they can be held directly accountable for their actions. Corporations are theoretically (or potentially) immortal, and the people who run them are protected from being held accountable for the actions of the company. Do you really think we should go back to the days of cure-all tonics, "4 out of 5 doctors smoke Camels," etc?

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11/11, 02:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Simple Disclaimer will do

All the ad needs is a simple disclaimer like the purple pill.

Faster personal computer in the world.

Disclaimer: Based on the benchmarks Apple ran on a variety of applications such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and etc. Apple is not the fastest personal machine to run Windows applications or computer games. :-D

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11/11, 02:42pm | report spam | close Reply |
ALL advertisers lie?

I can't believe how many commentors seem to fully accept the idea that all advertisers lie. And yet I haven't seen one example of a current advertisement that makes a statement that is proveably false. Name one. (Matters of taste/opinion such as looks better, tates better, etc. don't count because they are subjective.)

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11/11, 03:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Lies and Advertising

Latest one I saw was for a floor cleaning product that claimed to work better than all the others by trapping dirt (probably "trapped dirt like a magnet" - and don't start me on "like a magnet" gets misused ;-) ) whereas Newsweek magazine tested it and found that it didn't make a blind bit of difference.

Want more lies? Watch any advertising on after midnight on US television. It's scary and misleading stuff, I tells ya.

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11/11, 03:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
Commercial speech

is not free, even in the US.

It is against the law to mislead in advertising with statements that are provably false. But it's like speeding. So many people do it that the cops just try to catch the worst offenders.

"Fastest" and "Personal Computer" need to be legally defined before Apple's ad can be proven false.

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11/11, 04:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
good

I hated that ad anyway

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11/11, 05:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
these 8 people

got nothing better to do?

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11/11, 05:28pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: ALL advertisers lie?

Maybe not a statement, but how about an implication. All, yes ALL, of Intel's Centrino advertisements imply that with a Centrino laptop you can go absolutely anywhere and connect to the internet. Without wires, without setting anything else up. Just open the laptop and your online wirelessly. Sure there is small print at the bottom of those ads that state that you need various pieces of hardware, isp support, etc, but that is small print and is never made clear anywhere in the commercial.

An Ad from July that states "Fastest Computer in the World" I can buy. An Ad from two weeks ago that implies that I can connect to the internet instantly from on top of Mt. Everest I find horribly misleading.

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11/11, 06:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: ALL advertisers lie?

looks like M$ is going to do just that with their upcoming "Linux patches aren't released as fast as M$ patches" campain. i bet you that they'll get away with this blatant lie.

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11/11, 07:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Centrino Lies

"An Ad from July that states "Fastest Computer in the World" I can buy. An Ad from two weeks ago that implies that I can connect to the internet instantly from on top of Mt. Everest I find horribly misleading. "

I don't know what the laptop featured in the Centrino ad actually is, but I checked some specs on HP's web site for their Centrino equipped machines and found that their minimum operating temperature is 10 degrees Celsius and their maximum operating altitude (unpressurised) is 10,000 feet. So even if there is a wifi hotspot at Mt. Everest basecamp (unlikely) there's no way a machine would be able to boot up to use it.

Will the ITC pull Intel's campaign?

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11/12, 03:55am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Centrino Lies

"Will the ITC pull Intel's campaign?"

Only if people contact them and tell them that the Intel ad is misleading and/or a load of tosh. I take it that you have done that?

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11/12, 04:35am | report spam | close Reply |
The British Government

is in Microsoft's pocket.

If the Microsoft monopoly in enterprise were broken (ie, no stupid "standardization" on Windows - talk about fanatics!) demand and salaries for qualified technical professionals would go through the roof. It'd be another tech boom and would make the late '90s look like a recession.

The only people opposing the undoing of Bill Gates' illegal monopoly are the no-good, non-doing, old fuddy-duddies that are truly peeved a 30 year-old qualified tech can make more money than they do after a lifetime of useless papershuffling, recording and reporting.

Break down the wall!

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11/12, 08:05am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Centrino Lies

"Only if people contact them and tell them that the Intel ad is misleading and/or a load of tosh. I take it that you have done that? "

Yes, I have. And I await the outcome with interest.

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11/12, 10:40am | report spam | close Reply |
Loud, Fat, Americans?

How about this.

"Why don't I come over dare and troe a cheeseburger down your troat, OH! keeek."(Ford Fairlane)

America and AMERICANS have given the world more

1. Pulitzer Prizes
2. Nobel Laureattes
3. Inventions
4. MONEY!

We export so many f****** jobs to INDIA and EUROPE that it makes me sick. You think that money is staying in the USA?
Not much of it.

The Brits et all of Europe can suck it.
OUR Men and Women are dying in IRAQ.
America should get the spoils of that war before any of those panzy-assed aholes.

FREEDOM is why we exist!
It is more than a word to us a**-clown, it is a way of LIFE.

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Apple's 'Fastest Computer' G5 TV ad banned in UK

updated 09:55 am EST, Tue November 11, 2003

G5 commercial banned in UK

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Puhleeese!

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fine print

good

This is just the

Me thinks the Brits

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Lies???

Apple has been...

Brit viewers have power!

Advertising Standards..

Stereotypes

Charlie Chan

Advertising watchdogs...

Could be worse...

Wierd But True

How about changing it to:

Free Speech

Re: Apple has been

Re: Charlie Chan

Serves them right...

It cuts both ways ...

Free speech?

Does NOT serve them right

I haven't seen these ads

Free speech? Yes!

re: Free Speech

Simple Disclaimer will do

ALL advertisers lie?

Lies and Advertising

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good

these 8 people

Re: ALL advertisers lie?

Re: ALL advertisers lie?

Centrino Lies

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