iPhone Ad Ban Brings Back Memories

Apple's latest iPhone ad has been banned from the UK's airwaves -- and it's not the first time the company's faced claims of misleading its customers.

The latest ruling comes from Great Britain's Advertising Standards Authority. The watchdog organization had gotten viewer complaints over the ad's statement that "all the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone." The iPhone doesn't actually support Flash or Java, the viewers pointed out, so you can't actually access all of the Internet on it.

It may sound like "poTAYto, poTAHto" to you, but the concern was serious enough for the ASA to strike the ad down for good, saying it "gave a misleading impression" of the phone's capabilities. Apple, for its part, said it only meant to imply that you can access any Web site with the device -- and that it couldn't possibly make sure "every third-party technology in the marketplace" would function properly.

Explanations aside, the whole thing's gotta bring a sense of deja vu to Apple's marketing mob. Remember these past ad-related issues?

June 2004: Not So Fast, Power Mac

Apple boasted that its Power Mac G5 was the "world's fastest personal computer." The ASA, again on the offense, didn't agree. It found the computer wasn't fastest "in all circumstances, for all applications," citing independent tests that marked two Dell models as the speedier machines.

May 2007: Color Me Mad

Apple's assertion that its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks supported "millions of colors" came under assault when two California users argued otherwise. The men said the "millions" figure was just an illusion created by dithering and that the notebooks' displays, in actuality, were disappointing. Apple ended up settling the suit this past March for an undisclosed amount.

August 2008: Performance Problems

Just recently, Apple's started facing a fresh round of fury, also over its iPhone 3G performance. An Alabama woman is suing the company over ads suggesting the phone is "twice as fast" as its predecessor, saying the speed simply hasn't reached that level. The case is still pending.

Now, to be fair, Apple's not the only company to be accused of stretching the truth. Comcast's taken plenty of flak for slowing down Internet speeds without telling its customers. Verizon's suffered similar lashings for imposing restrictions on its "unlimited" broadband service. And now, Canadian company Telus is coming under fire over customers' claims that it's forcing them off an advertised unlimited data plan.

For Apple, though, there does seem to be a recurring pattern of sorts -- and when it comes to commercial complaints, the iPhone 3G does not appear to be changing everything.

Comments

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jhonekumar7

August 28, 2008

2:09 AM PT