The UK advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has told Apple to discontinue using a TV ad for the iPhone. This is the second time in three months that Apple have been found wanting in respect of iPhone advertising. In August this year the ASA banned another ad which promised users access to ‘all parts of the Internet' a promise that it could not keep. On this occasion the offending ad showed a close-up of the iPhone 3G browsing the web, downloading files, and viewing Google Maps, loading each in a fraction of a second.
A number of consumers complained the ad exaggerated the speed of the device and the ASA concurred. Apple argued the ad was meant to be relative rather than absolute and that consumers would understand the loading speeds were simplified as an example but this argument cut no ice with the ASA.
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