iPhone ad rapped as 'misleading'

[137489]

Truthfully, other than video content - I do not know any websites that still use flash anymore more to construct the entire website. It was cool and flashy at first, but it is very uncompatible with the standard browser and an annoyance to have stuff zipping across the screen and pages that "peel back" when you click a link.

Flash is really only meant for one thing anymore. A way to enable videos on the internet in a format that makes it hard for anyone to download and pirate (of course there are means available to do this). and also a way to distribute videos online, so that they can be used in a browser without the need to launch Windows Media Player (as in when the web first came about).

I think flash is good for little animations and video content (as the file size is smaller than say AVi, WMV, etc) and is not limited to Windows only platforms.

Other than that websites written in flash entirely are rather annoying to view. i have seen where people put too many bells and whistles into their website that leads to more distraction than focusing on content.

 

[TheSlush]

This is an absolutely silly complaint by U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority. They are ignoring context and intent, and are using semantics as a headline-grabbing weapon.

The "parts" of the Internet in this ad quite clearly refer to daily lifestyle needs, not to programming technology and plug-ins!

I'm surprised. The U.K. is usually quite savvy on things like this.

 

[w00master]

This is an absolutely silly complaint by U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority. They are ignoring context and intent, and are using semantics as a headline-grabbing weapon.

The "parts" of the Internet in this ad quite clearly refer to daily lifestyle needs, not to programming technology and plug-ins!

I'm surprised. The U.K. is usually quite savvy on things like this.

*shrugs* Imho, I think it's absolutely correct, and it's been one of my complaints to Apple's "baby internet" claims. Sorry until iPhone Safari supports Flash (and Java), it's still the baby internet to me.

 

[happydude]

"all parts" would apply to "all parts" - third party or not. apple's been taking some license lately with the iphone claims. including "twice as fast." i've experienced very little that has been "twice as fast" about my 3G iphone. it lags, apps crash, the internet on 3G certainly isn't "twice as fast." it will be nice when the administration in the u.s. changes Parties and we'll have some governmental agencies that work on behalf of the consumer, not the corporations, maybe we'll have some corporate shinanigans called out like this . . .

 

[137489]

Quote:
I repeat the average consumer is an idiot, but not a retard.

Quote:
Funny, b/c we in the advertising industry consider you an "average consumer, I guess that makes you an idiot.

Wikipedia - Idiot indicated the greatest degree of intellectual disability, where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard himself or herself against common physical dangers. The term was gradually replaced by the term profound mental retardation.


Guess we know what he thinks of us

 

[JGowan]

im actually glad someone is doing something about this

my medical school website displays multimedia in flash format ( for privacy/legal reasons) so its not silly specifics for everyone

At the bottom of this dispute is a long lasting grudge between apple and adobe

Apparently, you didn't see the ad. As I wanted to be fully informed before posting, I sought it out (it wasn't hard, it's everywhere on the internet [oops, my bad]). It was worded as a play on earlier bits of the ad, all using the word 'PART':

"You never know which part of the internet you'll need,…

"The 'do you need sun cream' part… (as he's using Weather app)

"The 'what's the quickest way to the airport' part… (as he's using Maps app)

"The 'what about an ocean view' part… (as he's using Safari app)

"Or the 'can you really afford this' part… (as he's using Stocks app)

"Which is why all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone." (as he's answering a phone call)

A very interesting and well-thought out advertisement, if you ask me.

The ad was OBVIOUSLY designed to be clever not misleading. These types of rulings are exactly why McDonald's has to warn ignorant fools about their hot pie filling and hot coffee. Most people have no common sense. The others are nit-picking whiners.

Up until very recently, as you probably know but won't agree to because it doesn't support your position, most phones when surfing "the internet" were immediately routed to a special website cobbled together just for them (all of it watered-down) -- Apple's position is that it doesn't NEED to use the watered websites. It can surf the whole web -- the same web people surf when they're on their home computer. It sets them apart from many phones (not every phone) but many. And I've seen comparisons from several big phones out there. The iPhone renders the pages faster and more accurately, too.

Can it do flash or java. No. But Apple's response is VALID for not wanting to use "every third-party technology in the marketplace". In fact, they could add flash and java to their iPhone tomorrow and some others would complain about "X" technology not being supported and the UK watchdogs would still pull the ad. Apparently, everyone is looking to jack with Apple.

Again... Apple has got some clever people on the case and they will come up with something better for UK while getting around the whiners.

 

[Kar98]

For myself (and I am sure most others) an entire website scaled down to about a 2" square is not fully readable. Now you can probably tell what site you are on and read a head-line or two, but fully readable, no. You're going to have to "drag, nudge, zoom or fap the displayed content around" (or whatever method the particular phone allows) to actually read most of the website.

Frankly, you're simply wrong. You might have to _scroll down_ with one of the handy hardware buttons (i.e. you can scroll by simply holding down the directional pad), but the content is perfectly readable.

Compare:

with

 

[Trip.Tucker]

Yeah, you must really miss DOS...



And why do you think anyone cares about what doesn't bother you? On second thought, I misused "think." You don't.

Go cry, on your cheap version of the iPhone.

P.S. Flash is here to stay, just like graphical UI. The ad is misleading. Period.

You might want to go to a couple of anger management classes before posting. Flash is NOT necessarily here to stay and any decent site (google that if you don't know what that means) degrade gracefully. ...or in the more modern cases, upgrade elegantly.

 

[Trip.Tucker]

the internet is fine for me. i'm not missing out because theres no flash, none of the sites i frequent have flash and even if they do, it hasnt bothered me yet. if thats not the case for you, oh well. sucks for you. ive had very few problems with my phone and i'm happy with it.

Exactly. Flash is a nice extra, which is most cases is overused, it is NOT a necessity.

 

[varchar]

amazing how lawyers like to be very picky with words.... i guess they figure "internet in your pocket" to be literal as "the internet as you browse it on your computer which has 4GB ram, Quad-core, 22" wide-screen monitor, AND (the big part is the AND) has ALL 3rd party plugins, including but not limited to: Adobe flashplayer, windows media player, etc..."

What crock!

 

[JGowan]

I agree with the ruling--the ads are misleading. The iphone is a great device and has plenty of other strengths Apple can promote but the internet in its "entirety"? Uh no, not yet.

Why did you put "entirety" in quotes??? Apple didn't say that. It said "ALL THE PARTS OF THE INTERNET". It was a simple play on words.

Watch the ad, people.

 

[jackfrost123]

is it a technical issue or a copyright issue that apple doesn't want these tecnologies? Don't they want to pay money now or are they pushin competing products of their own? Because from linux that I know of they might not have the macromedia flash but they have a gnu alternative, why doesn't apple use this?

In any case however ITS SOMETHING THEY SHOULD FIX SOON, APPLE THAT IS. COME ON APPLE DON'T PLAY DUMB, THIS ARE INDISPENSIBLE TECHNOLOGIES TO THE WEB, HOW CAN NOKIA HAVE THEM AND NOT YOU.

 

[w00master]

amazing how lawyers like to be very picky with words.... i guess they figure "internet in your pocket" to be literal as "the internet as you browse it on your computer which has 4GB ram, Quad-core, 22" wide-screen monitor, AND (the big part is the AND) has ALL 3rd party plugins, including but not limited to: Adobe flashplayer, windows media player, etc..."

What crock!

The irony is that this had nothing to do with lawyers. Read the article again.

 

[macgruder]

Flash is an extension or plugin to what can be defined as the core technologies of the Web:

HTML + Javascript + CSS.

If the iPhone starts to display Flash, it still won't enable you to see the everything on the web. Some pages depend on ActiveX or may even embed an Illustrator file (for example) and require an extension to view that file. Given that the object tag enables any file type to be embedded provided the someone has written an appropriate extension for the add on then it is essentially impossible to view the 'whole web' anyway. However, I think supporting the core technologies (plus the ability to view what is built in to modern browsers) as the iPhone does is sufficient in this case (they could make it clearer on their website that Flash is not supported - probably because in many cases it's powering ads that will do no more than drain the battery).

Pretty much any site that requires Flash to use is simply a badly designed site. (I'd make an exception where the content itself is dependent on Flash). The number of times I see crappy flash for some menu effect where Javascript would do the job more elegantly and server more users ... probably the aforementioned medical website is a case in point.

Hell, if the iPhone helps to strip away unnecessary Flash I'll be glad of its omission.

And what is a mute point? A point that has lost the power of speech perhaps

 

[ungraphic]

not being able to support flash is like not being able to support half the internet.

the ban on the ad is valid.

 

[sears.d.charles]

Wt*

Ok what is the deal!! The iPhone is every part of the internet Flash and Java are add-ons.... That really pisses me off!Damn British people dont no what their talking about.. It was a really good AD to!! I say put it back on!!

 

[TheSlush]

*shrugs* Imho, I think it's absolutely correct, and it's been one of my complaints to Apple's "baby internet" claims. Sorry until iPhone Safari supports Flash (and Java), it's still the baby internet to me.

Perhaps, but your/ASA's complaint about absent technology is irrelevant to the claims Apple makes in this ad. Apple is only making "content" claims here, not technology claims. This ad's message is only that the iPhone can deliver an array of helpful, problem-solving information available on websites. Again, "parts" here refers only to those "pieces of helpful, problem-solving information."

This ad quite simply is not ban-qualified.

 

[yoak]

I use my internet bank alot, and was happy that I brought my iPone to the cabin this summer so I could still do some banking I had to do over the summer.
The BankID that I use to log into my account uses JAVA, and hence I couldn´t log in.
Very irritating and I had to go by boat and car to the nearest library to use the internet (45min away).

You obviously can´t access a very common feature on the net with the iPhone

 

[dizzy13]

I'm confused as to why all the non-Brits in this thread are having such a hard time coming to terms with the fact that in the UK we take honesty in advertising seriously and have a public body that take complaints seriously. Why, exactly, are those who try to protect less knowledgeable and perhaps more gullible consumers being attacked? We have manners and common decency here. Is that so offensive?

If your medical school website was correctly constructed, it would degrade gracefully in the absence of a Flash player/plugin. Don't blame a device for a poorly designed website.

"all parts" would apply to "all parts" - third party or not. apple's been taking some license lately with the iphone claims. including "twice as fast." i've experienced very little that has been "twice as fast" about my 3G iphone. it lags, apps crash, the internet on 3G certainly isn't "twice as fast." it will be nice when the administration in the u.s. changes Parties and we'll have some governmental agencies that work on behalf of the consumer, not the corporations, maybe we'll have some corporate shinanigans called out like this . . .

My phone is at a minimum 2x as fast as edge, but most of the time 5-10x as fast so don't blame the phone for not holding up to "twice as fast" b/c twice as fast is an understatement

 

[w00master]

Perhaps, but your/ASA's complaint about absent technology is irrelevant to the claims Apple makes in this ad. Apple is only making "content" claims here, not technology claims. This ad's message is only that the iPhone can deliver an array of helpful, problem-solving information available on websites. Again, "parts" here refers only to those "pieces of helpful, problem-solving information."

This ad quite simply is not ban-qualified.

Guess we'll have to disagree here, when I hear the phrase "the real internet" vs "baby internet" or "the whole internet." I expect to see the sites that I go to work, without flash this simply isn't true for me and many other users.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Stridder44]

if you need flash that bad ( i couldn't careless). then use a real computer.

Wow guys, way to drink the Apple kool-aid. They could do no wrong, right?

And we wonder why people hate us Apple users.

 

[Griffter]

Flash is an extension or plugin to what can be defined as the core technologies of the Web:

HTML + Javascript + CSS.

If the iPhone starts to display Flash, it still won't enable you to see the everything on the web. Some pages depend on ActiveX or may even embed an Illustrator file (for example) and require an extension to view that file. Given that the object tag enables any file type to be embedded provided the someone has written an appropriate extension for the add on then it is essentially impossible to view the 'whole web' anyway. However, I think supporting the core technologies (plus the ability to view what is built in to modern browsers) as the iPhone does is sufficient in this case (they could make it clearer on their website that Flash is not supported - probably because in many cases it's powering ads that will do no more than drain the battery).

Pretty much any site that requires Flash to use is simply a badly designed site. (I'd make an exception where the content itself is dependent on Flash). The number of times I see crappy flash for some menu effect where Javascript would do the job more elegantly and server more users ... probably the aforementioned medical website is a case in point.

Hell, if the iPhone helps to strip away unnecessary Flash I'll be glad of its omission.

And what is a mute point? A point that has lost the power of speech perhaps

Your exactly right here. When I design websites, I make sure that anybody and everybody can view them plugin free (with the exception of when I use video). Flash is simply a plugin, which you cannot guarantee that your users will have installed, therefore does not constitute in my opinion, part of the 'greater internet'.

However what you have to remember is that the ASA actually don't really have a clue about technology in this form, and it is highly unlikely that they have sought professional advice on the matter. Anyone seen the FCC episode of family guy? It works much the same way at ASA, and they feel that they have to be seen doing something in response to complaints... shame really.

 

[Pandora01]

I agree that the ruling is consistent with the strictest interpretation of the law, but I also think there are way more misleading ads on the air right now. What makes a potentially misleading play on words in this Apple ad a priority over other, sometimes intentionally misleading claims being made about other products? What's the priority here? I thought bodies like the ASA were there to protect consumers from dangerous scams, outright lies, unsupported health claims, etc.

 

[born4sky]

someday we will have Flash on iPhone, and I think we are getting way to far with complaints. Remember pocket PC ... it was almost impossible to use browser in the first place... I hate to remeber those days with pocket pc....

The irony is that apple using pocket pc (windows based) to sell us iPhones

 

[macgruder]

I use my internet bank alot, and was happy that I brought my iPone to the cabin this summer so I could still do some banking I had to do over the summer.
The BankID that I use to log into my account uses JAVA, and hence I couldn´t log in.
Very irritating and I had to go by boat and car to the nearest library to use the internet (45min away).

You obviously can´t access a very common feature on the net with the iPhone

Sorry, but independent of the iPhone discussion is the fact that your bank has a bad website - you should complain to them. Any login or system that requires Java is poor. How does your bank support its blind and disabled users who rely on a website that doesn't require such unnecessary(in this case) technologies? We're talking a bank here - something that is text dependent.