macnn
08/27/2008, 9:05am, EDT
Wednesday, August 27th
Apple ad forced off-air for misleading claims
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has had an Apple ad blocked from British TV, says BBC News. The ad, meant to sell the iPhone, was challenged in two complaints which said that it was misleading. In promoting the iPhone's Safari web browser, Apple claimed that it could deliver "all the parts of the Internet;" the difficulty, according to the complaints, is that the software does not support Flash and Java, which are used at many sites and thereby exclude the iPhone.
The ad therefore "gave a misleading impression of the Internet capabilities of the iPhone," the ASA has ruled, and cannot be shown again without different narration.
"Because the iPhone doesn't support Flash or Java, you couldn't really see the Internet in its full glory," explains ASA spokeswoman Olivia Campbell. "They made a very general claim that you can see the Internet in its entirety, and actually that's not quite true -- so we've upheld." Apple has refused to comment on the issue.
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Truth in Advertising
If only the Brits held Tony "The Lap Dog" Blair to the same high standards...
They are
The ads were misleading -- as are the ads in the U.S. which show instantaneous loading of web pages.
This is stupid
Virtually ever television commercial is somewhat misleading in that they show the product at its best. They should be complaining about every company that advertises on TV.
flash sucks
I'm sorry, but when I go to a web site and have to sit through some flash crap that some developer thought would look cool and impress his boss is a waste of my time. When i go to a site, i'm looking for information the fastest way it can be presented. Keep your flash and java, or at least make it an option for those easily impressed with smoke and mirrors.
As far as the ruling, the claims still are misleading. Safari on the iPhone is not even equivalent to the mac and windows versions so, while it may be the best on a mobile phone (imho), it does not provide the same experience.
Now wait a minute...
I took out extra insurance on my house when I saw this PowerMac G5 commercial, since I decided I wanted one.
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/PowerMacG5-ad_m480.mov
You mean to tell me this wasn't a representation of the truth.
Damn, I never realized it was so misleading.
Re: now wait a minute
Actually, I think the UK banned that ad as well.
typical
Only in the UK are laws so anal that this is taken seriously.
Wouldn't it be nice if the UK did the same with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Laws are good, but common sense is better.
speed
I always thought Apple's commercials touting the speed were a littly iffy. They say it's "twice as fast" but never say what it is twice as fast as. Is it twice as fast as anyone else's phone? Is it twice as fast as anyone else's network?
I know, they're trying to say it's twice as fast as the previous version. Which, in itself, makes it a weird commercial, since it's basically just advertising it to existing owners (because if you didn't already have it, you really wouldn't care it was twice as fast as it was).
(And not that I pay too much attention, but I hope they actually mention they're talking about the internet access, because I don't think the phone itself is twice as fast).
microsoft cars...
...it would seem long overdue to hold both hardware
Three Cheers!
Good for Britain. Fraudulent advertising is so pervasive in the U.S. that most Americans can't even recognize it, and those that do merely accept it as casually as Indians accept corruption (as part of their "culture"). The only justification for government monopoly of force is to prevent violence and fraud, something that the U.S. government does a piss-poor job of. We should hardly be criticizing Britain for doing it better.