“An Apple iPhone advert has been banned by the advertising standards watchdog for exaggerating the phone’s speed,” BBC News reports.
“The advert boasted the new 3G model was ‘really fast’ and showed it loading internet pages in under a second,” The Beeb reports.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints by 17 people who said the TV advert had misled them as to its speed,” The Beeb reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Here are two of them:
The Beeb continues, “Apple UK said it was comparing the 3G model with its 2G predecessor and its claims were ‘relative not absolute.'”
MacDailyNews Take: All 17 complainants, 15 of whom work for rival ‘smartphone’ makers, said they didn’t really care about Apple’s problems as each of them also had relatives who drank Absolut.
The Beeb continues, “The advert repeatedly stated that the phone was ‘really fast’ and showed news pages and the Google maps service taking just fractions of a second to appear. Text on the screen said: ‘Network performance will vary by location.'”
MacDailyNews Take: All 17 complainants testified that they thought Apple was talking about changing channels on the telly.
The Beeb continues, “”After upholding the viewers’ complaints, the ASA said the advert must not appear again in the same form.”
MacDailyNews Note: The banned ad (if you’re British, turn away):
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Masteroflondon” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: In certain Wi-Fi hotspots private and public (we’re not telling) our iPhones exceed the speeds shown in the advertisement.
(For ASA Council Members and sundry complainants: Wi-Fi is only as fast as the line to which the base station is hooked, therefore not all Wi-Fi access points are created equal. In other words, “Network performance will vary by location.” Aw, forget it.)
