11/6/07

In the News - Apple iPod Touch Commercial

A shiny Apple story ... and a rotten one
MATHEW INGRAM

Globe and Mail Update

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October 29, 2007 at 6:34 AM EST

Beginning today, Globe and Mail new-media reporter Mathew Ingram writes a Monday-to-Thursday feature on must-see Web hits and the latest news from the online world.

It's a heart-warming tale of what some call "user-generated content:" Nick Haley, an 18-year-old student in Leeds, hears a song with the lyric "my music is where I'd like you to touch," and the first thing he thinks of is how appropriate that line would be for an iPod Touch ad. So what does he do? He makes one and uploads it to YouTube.

Next thing he knows, his cellphone rings - an Apple marketing executive says they're interested in using his ad. Soon he's on a plane to California, where Apple's ad agency essentially recreates his ad in high-definition (the ad started running on U.S. television yesterday).

Did Apple go to all that trouble to create a heart-warming tale of user-generated content? Perhaps. Of course, Apple has also come under fire in the past for running ads that looked a little too much like someone else's work (including the moving silhouette ads, which were very similar to some created by Toronto-based Taxi).

Maybe this time Apple thought it might be better to give credit to the originator.

But Apple doesn't always respond so kindly to helpful suggestions from Apple fans. Just ask Shea O'Gorman: the nine-year-old girl, who loves listening to her iPod, wrote a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioning some of the features she would like added to the device (including the ability to see the lyrics of the songs as they play).

Three months later, she was overjoyed to get a letter back from Apple — until she and her parents read it, and realized that it came from Apple's chief counsel, who told Shea not to send Apple any more such letters and advised her to read the company's legal policy. The girl's parents say she was so upset she threw the letter aside and went to her room.

According to Apple, the letter was a standard form letter that is designed to protect the company from malicious lawsuits launched by inventors who might claim Apple took their ideas. The chief counsel later called Shea O'Gorman to apologize, and the company has reportedly had a meeting to try and respond better to inquiries from children.

mingram@globeandmail.com

1 comment:

Stephen Gagne said...

Just an interesting FYI although the article does not directly pertain to Indie Music in Advertising.