Thursday, November 27th 2008
Should an advertising claim come with small print?
I was struck by the simplicity of Apple’s latest television advert showing how quickly and easily it is to install software on your iPhone from the internet.
The advert boasted the new 3G model was ‘really fast’ and showed it loading internet pages in under a second.
Keen-eyed viewers would have noticed various ‘small-print’ captions at the bottom of the screen with phrases such as ‘not an actual representation of timescale’ and ‘network performance will vary by location’.
The ASA upheld a number of complaints and has said the advert should not appear again in it’s current form. Apple’s comeback was to say the demonstration was to show the speed as relative, not absolute.
It’s a shame Apple has done this, they could have played on the iPhone’s simplicity, cool-ness and any number of great features without having to over-claim and then add small-print.
‘For a limited period only’ and ‘batteries not included’ I can deal with. Amazingly, last night I saw a supermarket offer for 2-for1 mince-pies. The small print says the offer ends on the 17th December! Merry Christmas!
Remember kids, keep your eyes-peeled for the small print!
Posted by Richard on Thursday 27th of November 2008 at 9:22am
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