UK smacks Apple for another misleading iPhone commercial
By Nilay Patel 
posted Nov 26th 2008 12:13PM
posted Nov 26th 2008 12:13PM
We figured Apple would've learned its lesson after the UK's Advertising Standards Authority banned those "the real internet" iPhone commercials, but it looks like Steve's back in detention -- the ASA just ruled that another ad claiming that the iPhone is "really fast" is also misleading enough to be pulled. You've probably seen the similar US version of the ad, which shows the iPhone 3G loading a web page, switching to Maps to locate itself, downloading an attachment, and then finally taking a call, all in 30 seconds -- yeah, that doesn't happen. Apple claimed that its "Network performance may vary by location" disclaimer was enough to keep it safe, but the ASA wasn't having that: it said that the ad was likely to lead viewers to believe the iPhone was really that speedy. Of course, we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other, but we're not the ones in charge -- just wait till the ASA finds out that drinking gallons of beer doesn't actually make you more attractive. Check the ad in question after the break.[Thanks, David]
The one where it recognizes music (Honeysuckle Weeks) now says at the bottom "time sequences have been compressed" at the start of the commercial.
Looks like Apple is getting the message.
Apple is shady like that,
Case in point: Anyone notice how Apple tries to make people associate Shazam (awesome app) with the iPhone? I was astounded to see that Apple had an entire commercial about the capabilities of of Shazam, and they only mentioned Shazam once.
It's clear as day that they want to assiciate the iPhone with music recognition, as they sucessfuly associated the iPhone with touch screens.
What a bunch of dingdongs
What about the front of cereal boxes, "Image has been enlarged to show texture."
Does the ASA pitch a fit when they pour it out and they don't find 5" Fruit Loops?
Someone should slap Verizon and RIM with a case of those accelerated BlackBerry Storm ads too. I got by yesterday and the updates didn't make it that much better - $&@"!
If you haven't read about it yet go to http://admiralh.wordpress.com and read that person's exhaustive review... It's crazy long. I should have read it before I got my Storm. Yes, I am suffering buyer's remorse now.
Back on the whole Shazam thing
How dare they say: "That's the iPhone, Solving life's problems one app at a time." (referring to Shazam)
Are you F'n kidding me? I had no idea, Apple created Shazam! (as the commercial would emply)
Is there anyone bold enough to say tha Apple is not trying to market Shazam as a unique feature of the iPhone, opposed to an independent, licensed application?
Oh the macoganda is killing me! Apple marketing = dingdongs.
@McLovin: No, because its not true. It's abundantly clear from the ad that Shazam is an App Store App, and that you need to get that App to have that functionality. Did you even watch the commercial before deciding to whinge about it?
"Apple is shady like that" - McLovin
And my Big Mac doesn't look anything like the ones on the McDonald's ads, and Microsoft definitely doesn't take me "where I want to go today."
Apparently all advertising is "shady like that." But don't let me pee in your Apple haterade. Keep on swiggin'!
@Quix
I predict that you'll get low-rankings soon!
Reason:
Neither Microsoft nor McDonlalds attempts to swindle consumers by taking advantage of the sudden popularity of 3rd party brands.
I mean can you imagine
Microsoft:
"Windows Mobile takes advatage of triangular location, technology allowing you to locate yourself even if you don't have a GPS unit. You simply hit this button and boom, ther's you approximate location. Windows Mobile, Solving Life's problems One App at a Time"
Would that be fair, knowing that you'd be using Google Maps to do this (which is, btw available for a large number of mbile OS or did you think Apple created that?) ?
Quix, you're still a DING-DONG!
though this case is not as severe, has anyone seen the add for the G1 where they advertise the barcode reader? It's similar to this,
but yes, i agree, i've been using shazaam on my s60 device for a while now...
"I predict that you'll get low-rankings soon!" - McLovin
Of course I'll get low ranked. This is the Engadget comments section. If you don't foam at the mouth ranting about Apple stuff or slobber all over Microsoft with love and affection, the tools that swarm this blog will vote you down. Fact.
And since you failed at reading comprehension, the OP had nothing to do with "3rd party brands." It had to do with deceptive advertising, i.e. making your product look unrealistically appealing. You know, like is done with pretty much every ad on TV. Hmm, isn't Microsoft getting sued for understating the hardware requirements for "Vista Ready?" Yeah, that's what I thought. Microsoft is shady like that.
Now rank me down again, Redmond Horde.
Astroturf Different.
lol, lowest ranked is lowest ranked
kinda wish they were this serious about 'false advertising' over here(US).
Yeah, explaining how the iPhone really doesn't work like that to others gets old, especially when they compare it to whatever phone (or even laptop) they are using. Ugh.
I was thinking the same thing when I read the article title. When I see ads most of them are horrible either just plain horrible or really misleading or practically lying. I'm also confused by how movies and such get edited so much yet there are commercials of women in lingerie. That I think is quite a double standard. I think if I had a kid I'd rather have them cussing than thinking women are supposed to be thin and look perfect.
Like this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqwHRgYjgso
At the end it should say: "And this is when you realize... that your game has crashed and you have to start all over. Congratulations!"
Hear Hear! - spot on, spot on.
The ASA have a lot of clout. Among the apple issues, recently Virgin media has ads withdrawn concerning its 'unlimited' internet. Cosmetic companies promoting something where '76% of those surveyed found a noticeable improvement' have to include the sample size, as often these are laughably small.
I am not sure if the Mac vs PC ones were withdrawn by the ASA, ads where you slag off a competitor are generally frowned upon. I didn't think they worked that well anyway, as the Mac came across as smug and arrogant, although this may be fairly close to the mark.
It's not false advertising, the iphone & any other device is capable of that speed and more it's just that sometimes people forget they're sharing a network and sometimes think that the 3G network is dedicated to themselves, just think of how many morons are sharing the same local network as you with jailbroken iphone downloading all kinds of crazy shit and messing up your connection at the same time
Snitch:
let's say you are right and the network speed IS actually that awesome-ly insanely fast, but the thing is the iPhone itself isnt that fast. The way they switch through all those apps makes it seem like a super phone with Intel i7 inside.
"Of course, we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other."
Faking the on-screen functionality is harder to detect. Its not like this is a Best Buy ad with an obviously fake picture of some game on a computer monitor.
The iPhone commercials look completley believable. The average consumer isn't going to think about whether or not all of that is possible in the allotted timeframe. (As a technophile, even I missed this in the ads since it looked like standard iPhone stuff).
wait, drinking lots of beer doens't make one more attractive?!? dammit!
Implying that's actually against the guidelines in the UK as well.
No, but it does make ugly people around you more attractive.
Only to other drunk people.
ad fail.
Why must there be a classmates.com ad between every article on every page. OFMG!
No, I will not have sex with your God!
what do you mean by "OFMG"?
Try an ad blocker?
i have not seen an add in 2 years. Firefox + Adblock = obvious
You do realize that ads pay for all the free content you see online, right?
You realize that the % of people that use adblock, or even the % that knows how to install it if someone tells them about it is extremely low compared to the % of people that see and click on ads?
Besides that, geeks don't click web ads anyway.. We prefer to go to sites by typing addresses manually to avoid the cookie you obtain clicking the ad.
@Nihility
Yep, and there's more than enough idiots online to read and click on them to fund the websites. I don't want to waste my (loading, scrolling, and reading) time on ads for products/services I'm not remotely interested in and would never consider buying.
As Blazeitup123 said, Firefox + AdBlock = FTW!
OFMG? http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2024729753
"Of course, we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other,"
Serious? What cave have you guys been hiding out in, and can I join you?
People are that stupid. Maybe not the average selection of folks reading a gadget blog, but go out on the street and pick a dozen people at random.
A person is smart, people are stupid.
I agree with you. People are that stupid.
Take for example those that think that the President Elect is a terrorist and will destroy this country by nuking it.
(The lady at the front desk actually believes that says that he should change his name if he wants to be her president)
So yeah, people believe what they hear and see. I agree.
"None of us is as dumb as all of us" - I love that quote ^_^
"we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other."
You saw the lines outside of Apple stores right?
Wait you mean it isn't that fast?
Definitely maybe.
i agree, if i did not know anything about the iPhone, i would be lead to believe that it could actually do all of that at that speed. if only the US had such a standard in false advertising.
If they did, there would be no more advertising... ever. The ASA just likes picking on Apple.
Unless you'd like to try to prove that no other ads on TV are misleading. Hey I tried Axe shower spray and women didn't stick to me like magnets. I had a DiGiorno pizza and I could, in fact, taste the difference between that and a fresh baked pizza. Would you like me to keep going for several thousand more pages?
Do you think the ads for the Blackberry Storm aren't misleading? Do you think the ads for the G1 aren't misleading? Apparently that's exactly what the ASA thinks. Only Apple accelerates features of their products to fit into a 30 second spot. Sure, I'll buy that.
There's obviously a difference between an opinion (DiGiorno), a hyperbole (Orbitz gum), comic effect (Axe), and representing something as real (iPhone speed) in a commercial.
Obviously you won't believe someone saying "This is the best tasting pizza/beer/ice cream/ whatever" in a commercial, but if they show you the pizza baking in less than 5 minutes and it takes 20, then you have a problem. Presenting something as a fact that isn't true but is believable is totally different.
The ASA isn't "just picking on Apple". Firstly, the ASA will only respond if someone complains. Secondly, Apple's rivals don't make claims anywhere near as bold as Apple in the UK. Usually they just stick to the phone's features or what you can do with the phone.
BLaugh: Seriously? You're going to defend other ads that exaggerate as "an opinion"? Have you ever seen a DiGiorno pizza ad? It's not an opinion, they're telling you right to your face that you won't be able to tell the difference. What I'm saying is that the ASA will ignore something like that, and go straight for Apple. I don't need to prove that, because they already proved it for me.
Aaron: So what you're saying is either A) there are no misleading ads in the UK except for ads by Apple, or B) there are other misleading ads but nobody complains about them because Apple is an easier target to hate.
One of those two things has to be true,and I doubt it's the one about Apple being the only advertiser in the UK that has a slightly misleading ad - and it's misleading only in the sense that they accelerated the functions to fit the ad into a 30 second spot. What it's actually doing is not misleading at all.
@Zak, "You're an idiot"... Now was that a fact or an opinion?..
Zak, a pizza and an iPhone is not the samething. Clearly a misleading advert about an expensive piece of tech would be higher on the list of concerns over the exact taste of a pizza.
fact.
Zak - Apple aren't the only company to have ads pulled in the UK. However, their ads certainly make wilder claims than most other tech ads.
"it's misleading only in the sense that they accelerated the functions to fit the ad into a 30 second spot."
They accelerated it up and cut out segments of the process whilst saying "This is how you..." and gave no indication that the process was sped up. Very few companies would dare to do that in the UK.
It's also worth pointing out that Apple don't run their "I'm a Mac adverts" in the UK any more. I don't know why. I also don't know why Microsoft are running their adverts "I'm a PC" adverts. Why run them in a market without Apple's original ads?
That's right Zak, Apple are the only ones that the ASA pick on. In fact, the government set up the Authority just to make sure that none of Apple's ads ever get to air. Oh and ASA doesn't really stand for Advertising Standards Authority, it actually stands for Apple Slamming Authority.
Grow up. Apple ads are full of lies and it's people like you who need to be protected by organisations like the ASA because you don't have the intelligence to differentiate between Apple's lies and reality.
Oh dear - we've set Zak off again - honestly his entire post history contains nothing but mentioning Apple or trying to defend Apple...Zak breeeeathe...
When I first saw this ad in the UK, I was quite taken aback, and had to do a double take wondering if it was caching anything in the background while it was operating etc. The thing that throws you is that the button animations flying in and out are all in real time, so it leads you to believe what you are seeing is live real time footage, when in reality it isn't.
Coming from the UK (do you Zak?) I can honestly say I cannot think of any other technology advert that pulls this "trick". The UK advertising authority are pretty hot on unrealistic claims or misrepresentation and are not "out to get" any particular company.
While I agree some advertising can try and word things "creatively" - ie. "this moisturiser works for up to eight hours" (meaning it'll work for 8 hours for 5% of the population the rest of you will get about 5 hours out of it) it doesn't allow one company to blatantly slag off another company, but rather sell their products on their own merits, which as I understand it isn't enforced in the USA (I could be mistaken)...and why Apple play sneaky by saying "PC" in their adds and not "Microsoft" although we all know that's what they mean.
haha. Look at all those responses. Now who's being defensive?
Yes, calling me an idiot makes a point. You obviously win the argument. The importance of pizza is completely irrelevant. They are either exaggerating or they aren't. Pick one.
Jakem: show me one actual lie in an Apple ad. Just one. Or, you know, keep talking out your ass, that works just as well.
Mikey - Do you really want to play the post history game? You're one of the sorriest Microsoft apologists on this board, and one of the least informed Apple haters. Does the phrase "pot, kettle, black" mean anything to you?
@ Zak
Why do I get the feeling if ASA had pulled an ad doing the exact same thing with a WinMo phone (showing features operating more then 100% faster then in real life usage) that you would be praising them up on high, and slamming whatever manufacturer made the phone for misleading the public?
Advertising restrictions in the UK are extremely strict, these ads to not straight out lie but they are obviously misleading enough because even in an area with the best possible wireless coverage you could not hope to attain the speeds in that advert, which is blatantly trying to mislead the public. Hell I've used an iPhone less then 1 metre from a wireless router, and it was still much much slower then in that advert, and the advert suggests those speeds are attainable over 3G!
Zak, seriously stop trying to defend Apple on indefensible things. The merits/disadvantages of OSX? Always debatable. How appealing the look of Apple products are? Again, always up for debate. Apple being secretive and discriminant to their customers detriment in app store? Not so debatable... Apple showing the iPhone operating much quicker then you could ever possibly achieve in real world usage with no real disclaimer? Again, not so debatable....
Yes please Zak, let's play the history game! In my ENTIRE comment history I have 37 comments that could be said to be questioning Apple or bigging up another product at the expense of Apple....looking at your posts I got to 60 Apple-fanboi-isms (and that was me being generous to you) then realised I'd only gone back as far as October this year before I lost the will to carry on!
...and I'm afraid that you sarcastic comment to rlynd3 about calling you an idiot to win an argument can hold no water the amount of time you seem to have done the same to other people...let me see "Psystar never had a case. Mostly because they're idiots" ... what a well informed argument there...I'm quite humbled.
You are a sad, sad man and deserve our pity!
"Jakem: show me one actual lie in an Apple ad. Just one."
You must be hoping that "I'm a Mac" commercials arent played in the UK because damn... thats like the easiest task ever.
Has Zak ever heard of Ryanair before?
More to the point, has Zak ever heard about Ryanair's epic battles with the ASA before?
Obviously, Ryanair is just a cunning ruse, set up by Microsoft and the hostile British Secret Services to thwart Apple's plans for the United Kingdom!
Oh! How I rue the day that Bill Gates and Gordon Brown got into bed together!
This would all be much easier if we just blocked Zak. Since Engadget didn't include a "mute" feature, I wrote one. It is a Grease Monkey script that hides all Zak's comments (and no one else's)
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36579
Bringing actual discourse back to Engadget.
@Zak
no, i really dont have anything to say to you, but i saw that people answering your post gets high ranked, so maybe this is my chance to get high ranked.
@Chris
Drinking lots of beer does not make you look attractive, but other people drinking lots of beer makes you look more attractive -subtle but really, really important ;-)
See also: Drinking lots of beer makes you think you look more attractive.
http://carcino.gen.nz/images/index.php/00b9a680/058fb457
haha, not that i ever believed it was that fast, but i always wondered how they got away with implying it, the gps locator by itself takes more than 30 seconds to find you
Um... bullshit? I did that last night and the GPS locked on to my position in 5 seconds. 5 seconds is a lot less than 30. Please pull your head out of your ass, thanks.
@zak
it was way faster than 5 seconds in the commercial. ALOT faster. i think your just a fanboy and upset that your precious iPhone isn't what it was promised to be.
@malikye.
Yeah, Zak is probably just really really mad for being stupid enough to buy a piece of shit tech like the iPhone.
What cracks me up is when I see those commercials and try and figure out what kind of consumer stereotype they're going to try and attract during the program I'm currently watching, like during football games Joe the Plumber seems to like calling and then during Naruto on cartoon network Chen Yang Lo seems to prefer to call and interrupt an awesome sceen which probably includes ramen eating.
I don't know, the iPhone seems pretty fast and hot with Apple Goggles.
"just wait till the ASA finds out that drinking gallons of beer doesn't actually make you more attractive."
That's a specific offence here, along with advertising that gambling can make you rich. Quoting the British Code of Advertising Practice:
Advertisements must not suggest that alcohol can contribute to an individualy's popularity of confidence, or that refusal is a sign of weakness. Nor may they suggest that alcohol can enhance personal qualities.
Advertisements must not suggest that the success of a social occasion depends on the presence or consumption of alcohol.
Advertisements must not link alcohol with daring, toughness, aggression or anti-social behaviour.
Advertisements must not link alcohol with sexual activity or success or imply that alcohol can enhance attractiveness.
... and so on for several pages.
People absolutely can/do/will believe a device to be as speedy as a commercial shows. Why wouldn't they? It's supposed to be a real-time video of Mr. Hand using the device. It's funny that with one hand Engadget "knows better" than to believe the iPhone could operate so smoothly, yet with the other hand Engadget is feverishly stroking Apple's collective wang for being like totally the greatest con-tech manufacturer ever.
Anyway, good for the ASA. The iPhone doesn't operate that fast when it's OFFLINE much less when it's browsing internet content.
"The iPhone doesn't operate that fast when it's OFFLINE much less when it's browsing internet content."
I could open up the settings app on my iPod touch, and the commercial would be over before its done loading. piece of shit.
I think most people know that advertising and reality are =/=. However, the format in which Apple presents this ad is one of an actual experience of a person using the device. The whole hands-on, personal, easy-to use approach that also says 'its fast and simple.' I do not have an iphone, but I thought it had operational speeds that this time compressed and edited ad shows. That is.. i thought that until i saw somebody trying the same thing and it took 2+ minutes. That and all the comments about waiting and waiting.. and waiting...
Because proximity to 3G cell transmitters has nothing to do with it? Or are you just not aware that your speed will fluctuate depending on how good your signal is?
"It took 2 minutes" is a completely bogus complaint, because, as Apple mentions in their ads, your results may vary depending on location. Just like with any 3G phone. And that's not even the phone's fault, it's the network's fault.
Zak you are creepily defensive of this commercial and the iPhone. relax.
Yes, because making a valid point is being "creepily defensive". Your logic is impeccable.
and my comments.
@ Zak
"And that's not even the phone's fault"...
Yes, it is. The radio equipment, antenna, antenna position, HSDPA modem, and the software they use can all effect singal strenth, quality, and consistancy.
I'n not saying all 3g towers are in tip-top form, just pointing out that the hardware and software of a phone is just as responsible for signal strength, quality and consistancy.
You look like someone that would benefit from my Zak-blocking script. It is a Grease Monkey script that hides all his comments.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36579
Bringing civility back to Engadget.
It's one thing to have a loosely associated, wild concept - like women literally flocking to you just by wearing a certain type of deodorant or body spray. It's another to demonstrate a product in a way that makes it look more capable than it really is. Sure, it happens a lot - a big part of my job is demonstrating software, so I see people do it. But it ultimately leads to unhappy customers, as what you deliver does not meet the customer's expectations.
If I based my purchase of an iPhone even in part on the performance I saw on a TV commercial, and if I survived the self-defenestration resulting from the realization of that fact, I would probably feel a bit misled and unhappy about my purchase.
"Pawtucket Pats Beer... if you drink it... beautiful women will have sex with you."
also: "Pawtucket Pats Beer: if you drink it, hot women will have sex in your backyard."
Well, then many advertisement fall in similar cases.
What about McDonald advertisement - their hamburgers look awesomely big - but when you have them, they are small and ugly ...
"Actual size of hamburger is relative and may depend on size of consumer's hands."
that's why burgers in Asia are enormous.
Funniest thing I read today, bandigolo :)
What I want to is, what happens if I have no hands? Or if I was the designer of the original Xbox controller?
They might as well say "burgers shown are not actual size" or something... obviously a burger on a 60" plasma TV is wayyy bigger than a 15" TV!
Can't the same thing be applied to a McDonalds ad? I never get a burger in 30 seconds like the ad, or even the burger I actualy ordered, or warm fries or friendly customer service, and too much ice in the drink...
"Of course, we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other"
Oh, I wish that was true. Adverts wouldn't mislead if it didn't work.
"just wait till the ASA finds out that drinking gallons of beer doesn't actually make you more attractive."
You jest but such suggestions ARE banned by the ASA. Beer adverts in the UK are usually pretty abstract because of the tight rules on what they can contain.
Whatever man, my ShamWOW works great along with the power of OXYClean for cleaning up after an Ultra Cleanse/Enzyte/Lipozene overdose. I've also had great luck with Quest personals, I mean the side-effects of the AIDS meds are not that bad, well worth the money. I did burn myself with the cold heat soldering tool, but I was trying to combine two Cell Phone Antenna Boosters, so clearly I had needed to use a traditional soldering iron. Now excuse me, UPS is at the door with my 3rd Ab Slide replacement(I keep using it for more than 15 minutes, but don't tell them that).
i love my shamwow! whatever! (seriously!)
I don't doubt the ad has cut out some sequences of page/app loading. But if people do believe everything on TV, then surely the ASA should have banned ALL of the Lynx adverts! I've used their deodorants, but I don't get any of the girls coming after me like in the ad, neither have I turned into a giant piece of moving chocolate...
Could the applets keep (unnecessarily) defending this particular corporate product and/or continue bewailing the world's propensity to unfairly single it, among all other corporations, out for abuse?
It makes all us non-applets look much more attractive ....
attractive? your avatar gives me nightmares.
+1 for Boarder
does anybody know what ringtone that is ???
With the UK system ready to collapse, I'm sure glad this is top priority...
Not to mention dance better (well, for us white folk atleast).
This is a good thing ! The ASA also banned the "G5 powermac is the worlds most powerful computer" ads (Athlon 64 based PCs were in fact the worlds fastest at the time)
Good on them, If the product works as advertised then just show it actually doing it.
The scariest bit is the Apple fans defending their ads, that is without doubt the definition of mind control.
Wake up objective thinking saves you money.
See, the problem is that the ASA is always trying to interpret results and then impose them in other contexts. The claim that the PMG5 was the world's powerful computer at the time was of course specious, but saying AMD/Intel chips at the same time were more powerful is just as specious. There are some operations for which the PMG5 was the most powerful personal computer in the world at performing when it was released (no doubt, some obscure, useless SIMD/altivec benchmark), and others for which the x86 world would still hold the crown. Most of these comparisons were extremely pointless anyways since the damned chips couldn't even run the same OS. "Most Powerful" for a computer has about a dozen obvious meanings, and a few hundred less obvious ones, so AMD having the "fastest chip" does nothing to Apple's claim unless you specify in what way, and that that speed difference equates to computing power, which is another leap.
So, you're entirely missing the boat here with your misplaced quip about AMD chips being faster. It certainly had nothing to do with that, and was more about the fact that the statement could not be properly quantified in any way for any computer.
@ bobartig
so your average consumer would see it that way? No, they'd lap it up and go for the powermac based on the claim of 'most powerful' which is false advertising.
"Of course, we're pretty certain most people understand that reality and advertising don't really have anything do with each other, but we're not the ones in charge"
i can't believe that you're actually defending a company misleading customers! oh wait, this is engadget and we're talking about apple, never mind...