Bad Apple
The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority), which enforces advertising codes in the UK, has once more judged an Apple iPhone TV ad to be misleading and decreed that it can't continue to be shown in its current form.
In a filing on its website the ASA quotes the following statement used in the offending ad: "So what's so great about 3G? It's what helps you get the news, really fast. Find your way, really fast. And download pretty much anything, really fast. The new iPhone 3G. The internet, you guessed it, really fast."
The usual subtle Apple messaging then, but currently there's nothing illegal about emphasising a point ad nauseam. The law does seem to have stronger views on the matter of the truth, however.
It seems that 17 viewers contacted the ASA to complain that the ad was misleading. The statement they had a problem with was that the iPhone is, you guessed it, really fast.
When challenged, Apple stressed the claims were relative rather than absolute. It didn't explain why, if this was the case, it didn't use the word "faster" rather than "fast". Apple went on to say that it was merely stating that 3G is faster than 2G.
