iPhone ad banned by British regulators
Britain’s advertising regulators have banned a TV commercial for the 3G edition of the iPhone. The Advertising Standards Authority said Apple had exaggerated the speed at which the device can send and receive data.
The advert included a voiceover which repeatedly used the phrase “really fast” while showing a close-up of the iPhone performing various tasks such as Internet surfing and downloading.
In the advert, these actions happened virtually instantaneously. Of course, that’s not the experience for many users, and 17 people complained that the commercial was misleading.
In its defense, Apple argued that the point of the advert was to compare the speed of a 3G service to the original iPhone. It said the footage was designed to show the range of actions the phone could carry out and wasn’t meant as a literal guide to how long those actions would take. It also pointed to an on-screen note that “network performance will vary by location”.
However, this didn’t wash with regulators. They said many viewers wouldn’t understand the differences between the phone systems and pointed out that the ad didn’t explicitly refer to the original iPhone system. They also argued that the phrase “really fast” coincided with each action, giving a clear impression the demonstration was effectively in real time.
The advert is now banned from appearing again in its original form. This type of ‘punishment’ is not a major deal in the UK as by the time regulators make their rulings, advertisers have often dropped the advert from broadcast anyway.
The ruling follows another ASA ban in August, that time for the original iPhone. In that ad, Apple said “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone.” The firm later claimed this simply meant users could access all websites rather than just those specially modified for mobile phones. However, the ASA agreed with complaints that the ad was misleading because it didn’t mention the phone couldn’t handle Flash or Java content, making many sites as good as useless.
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