Apple Smacked Down For Calling iPhone 3G "Really Fast"
from the define-really-and-define-fast dept
An ad for the iPhone 3G has been banned in the UK, after the country's advertising regulator decided that calling the device "really fast" four times in an ad was making deceptive claims about the speed with which it could access the internet. Earlier in the year, Apple had another iPhone ad banned after it said it could access "all parts of the internet." The regulator's action was prompted by 17 complaints from consumers about the ad, though at least one of those who complained after he'd received some poor customer service from Apple says revenge was a factor, and wonders if others had similar motivation. While plenty of complaints about Apple in online forums get ignored or shouted down by the legions of Mac fanboys, at least one guy found a way to make his stick.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: ads, iphone, truth in advertising, uk
Companies: apple
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On the other hand I see an incredible fuss being made every time anything seems to not work perfectly. This may be a little biased, but I think Apple gets blamed for mistakes a lot more and a lot faster than any company. Probably partly their fault, they are one of the best known companies around now, with their ad campaigns.
But I think we just don't make nearly as big a deal of lawsuits like this hitting Dell or IBM. And although the fanboys can be very... energetic in their opinions, a fanbase does not appear for nothing.
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iphone.. eveything on net ??
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But this seems a fairly cut&dry situation, with an advertiser misrepresenting the abilities of their product and getting smacked on the nose for it.
Speed is an important product feature in mobile net devices. If you bought a car after watching it zoom about in an advert only to find it only did 30mph, you might feel a bit cheated too.
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Ratio
And they've had 17 complaints.
Wow. Makes me wonder why didn't you file this story under the making-something-out-of-practically-nothing department?
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Re:
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How is a relativistic claim a problem?
If they want to go after Apple because the *NETWORK* cannot possibly function as fast as the events necessary to be squeezed into a :30 spot, that's one thing. It's entirely another to go after them for a relativistic statement like "really fast" As compared to what? My old 1st gen HTC WinMo phone? Abso-friggin-lutely! As compared to my desktop on a hard-wired gigabit Ethernet connection? Well, sure... but that's not the point here, is it?
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excellent analysis
I like how you articulate your views, and substantiate them with researched facts and context. Would you be interested in having people read your analysis? If so, email me at hannahh.kelly@gmail.com
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Re: How is a relativistic claim a problem?
It's about realistic performance. This is why the smart folks don't use intel, the smart folks don't use vista, etc. However, some do get frauded by a fraud ad like apple's.
Lets use your example. If they said its way faster than an HTC, nobody would have said squat. In fact, it'd probably have been a more effective advertisement.
If you claim your car can go up to 200 miles per hour when the real max speed is around 120 and don't mention that the "max" is on a downhill, well gee, maybe it can only go as fast as it will go (which might be, say considerably less).
Essentially even if your Iphone was on a LAN your performance would not match what they did in a commercial. For this occurrence, someone managed to make the complaints about fraudulent advertising known. It's not unlike those McDonalds commercials that use plastic glazed sandwiches to look "amazing" are the same as the real ones, just nobody has been as successful at putting them to the same standard of honesty.
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Re: How is a relativistic claim a problem?
A tech-savy person would probably see it as an exaggeration (and ignore it as such), but there are plenty of people out there who don't know any better and would buy it believing that possible.
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IPhone commercials
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It wasn't the claim, it was the demo
The showing of an impossible scenario is what the Advertising Standards Council said was misrepresentative.
PCPro duplicated the tasks using an iPhone connected to Wifi and it took almost three minutes to actually do the tasks shown. Here's the video of the recreation.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/239556/what-the-banned-iphone-advert-should-really-look-lik e.html
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Apple torches
But Apple always tout how they are super mega ultra best and how their products are top notch and flawlesss... really just their brand name not living up to the brand and hype. They are unfairly scrutinized and I take stones thrown at apple with a grain of salt but they sort of brought it on themselves. Everyone expects Microsoft to screw up... but Apple claims they never do.
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Simpsons
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UK Safety Police: Keep away from the iphone! They're lying to you!
Is it a case of "If you can't compete, silence them"?
iPhone has 80% of the high-end smartphone market, and has around 95% satisfaction and 80% of owners will recommend it to others. Those numbers are nothing short of incredible. From a organic, word-of-mouth advertising perspective, it's virtually impossible to compete with those numbers.
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Re: Apple torches
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Re: UK Safety Police: Keep away from the iphone! They're lying to you!
And FUD about other networks isn't helping, fanbot.
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Why so heated?
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Re:
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But advertising has always been this way, the product is rarely as good as the ad says it is. Will the UK begin to attack McDonalds because their burgers never look as good at the restaurant as they do in the ads?
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But advertising has always been this way, the product is rarely as good as the ad says it is. Will the UK begin to attack McDonalds because their burgers never look as good at the restaurant as they do in the ads?
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In other news...
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Re: IPhone commercials
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Re: Re: How is a relativistic claim a problem?
I hate those speed readers.
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Re: Why so heated?
I DEMAND my pet baby duck says, "This is serious" at least once every half hour.
DAMM YOU FALSE ADVERTISERS FOR NOT MAKING MY DUCKS TALK ENGLISH!!!
See how silly that is? I agree. People need to lighten up.
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Re: UK Safety Police: Keep away from the iphone! They're lying to you!
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Maybe we should cut back a little on the marketing, eh? ;)
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