Apple Inc. advertising
Apple Inc. has had many notable advertisements since the 1980s. The "1984" Super Bowl commercial introduced the original Macintosh mimicking imagery from George Orwell's 1984. The 1990s Think Different campaign linked Apple to famous social figures such as John Lennon and Mahatma Gandhi, while also introducing "Think Different" as a new slogan for the company. Other popular advertising campaigns include the 2000s "iPod People", the 2002 Switch campaign, and most recently the Get a Mac campaign which ran from 2006 to 2009.
While Apple's advertisements have been mostly successful, they have also been met with controversy from consumers, artists and other corporations. For instance, the "iPod People" campaign was criticized for copying a campaign from a shoe company called Lugz. Another instance was when photographer Louie Psihoyos filed suit against Apple for using his "wall of videos" imagery to advertise for Apple TV without his consent.
1985–1990[edit]
In 1985 the "Lemmings" commercial aired at the Super Bowl, a significant failure compared to the popular "1984."
Two years later, Apple released a short film titled Pencil Test to showcase the Macintosh II's animation capabilities.
Criticism[edit]
Apple's advertising has come under criticism for adapting other creative works as advertisements and for inaccurate depictions of product functionality.
Some artists and unrelated businesses have complained that Apple's advertisements use their ideas. A 2005 iPod campaign starring rapper Eminem, called "Detroit", was criticized for being too similar to a 2002 advertisement for Lugz boots.[19] A 2006 television advertisement was made by a director who had also made music videos for an American band, and the ad was criticized for being too similar to the music videos.[20] Artist Christian Marclay denied Apple the rights to his 1995 short film "Telephones" to market Apple's iPhone, but Apple ran an ad during the 2007 Academy Awards broadcast that "seems like a tribute" to Marclay's experimental film.[21][20] In July 2007, Colorado-based photographer Louie Psihoyos filed suit against Apple for using 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 used similar imagery anyway. Psyhoyos later dropped the lawsuit.[22][20] Generally, copyright law prohibits copying specific expressions, but does not prohibit adapting ideas for other purposes, including as a tribute through allusions to works created by the honored artist.[20]
In August 2008, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK banned one iPhone ad from further broadcast in its original 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 did not support Java or Adobe's third-party Flash web browser plug-in.[23] The newer iPhone ads presented a "Sequence Shortened" caption at the beginning.
In 2012 Apple was sued in Australia for branding its 2012 iPad as being 4G capable, even though the iPad was not compatible with Australia's 4G network. Apple offered a refund to customers for all iPads sold in Australia.[24] Apple Inc. agreed to pay a A$2.25 million penalty for misleading Australian customers about its iPad being 4G capable.[25]