Criticism
Apple's advertising has come under criticism for allegedly copying other creative works and for inaccurate depictions of product functionality. A 2005 iPod campaign starring rapper Eminem, called "Detroit" was criticized for being similar to a previous campaign for Lugz boots. Lugz subsequently sent Apple a cease and desist letter to stop running the iPod ad.
Artist Christian Marclay denied Apple the rights to his 1995 short film "Telephones" to market their iPhone, but then decided against filing suit when Apple ran a similar ad during the 2007 Academy Awards broadcast.
In July 2007, Colorado-based photographer Louie Psihoyos filed suit against Apple for ripping his "wall of videos" imagery to advertise for Apple TV. Apple had allegedly been negotiating with Psihoyos for rights to the imagery, but backed out and promptly used the imagery anyway.
More recently, Apple has been criticized for its iPhone ads, which depict much faster network speeds than are realistically possible on current 3G network infrastructure, although they do include a disclaimer explaining that fact. In August 2008, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK had banned one iPhone ad from further broadcast in its current form due to "misleading claims". The ASA took issue with the ads' claim that "all parts of the internet are on the iPhone", when the device does not support Java or Flash. The newer iPhone ads show a caption, 'Sequence Shortened' at the beginning.
In 2012 Apple risked being fined millions of dollars in Australia for persistently branding its 2012 iPad as being 4G capable even though the iPad is not compatible with Australia's 4G network. Despite offering to refund customers for all iPads sold in Australia the iPad will still be branded "WiFi + 4G" and consequently, the matter will be proceeding to a full trial in court. Apple Inc. has agreed to pay A$2.25 million penalty for misleading Australian customers about its iPad being 4G capable.
Read more about this topic: Apple Inc. Advertising
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Nothing would improve newspaper criticism so much as the knowledge that it was to be read by men too hardy to acquiesce in the authoritative statement of the reviewer.”
—Richard Holt Hutton (1826–1897)
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men’s genius. By virtue of style, criticism can itself become literature. But usually this occurs only when the writer is acting as critic of his own work or as outrider to his own poetics, when the criticism of Coleridge is work in progress or that of T.S. Eliot propaganda.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“When you overpay small people you frighten them. They know that their merits or activities entitle them to no such sums as they are receiving. As a result their boss soars out of economic into magic significance. He becomes a source of blessings rather than wages. Criticism is sacrilege, doubt is heresy.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)