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Apple needs to get a sense of humor

LethalWolfe

LethalWolfe

macrumors G3
Jan 11, 2002
9,370
124
Los Angeles
*LTD* said:
Ellen might have been straying into a bit of misrepresentation here. It's not actually satire or parody, which are situations that no reasonable person would believe to be true. Ellen depicted the iPhone as hard to use (regardless of her intent), aping the Apple-style commercial, and then followed up with the iPhone 3G and Apple logos. We've got potential copyright issues, libel issues, etc.
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No, not really. It's not like she went out and bought ad time to have this parody aired nationally as a commercial, it was a his was a skit on her TV show. Just out of curiosity is there anything Apple can do that you will not make a valiant effort to justify? ;)

What's funny is how different people can interpret things. When I saw the parody I didn't think Ellen was making fun of the iPhone I thought she was making fun of herself by playing a blind, fat-fingered luddite that needs help using the 'it's so easy even a caveman can do it' iPhone. IMO that's what she was going for because she, like many comics, can be very self-deprecating.


Lethal
 
H00513R

H00513R

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2010
695
87
Indiana
I don't like talk shows, but I do like Ellen for some odd reason. I guess she has a clean, playful humor that is a little different than the other talkers. I still don't watch her though lol.
 
iStudentUK

iStudentUK

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2009
1,439
4
London
Apple seem to be getting very annoyed about every little thing. That was a perfectly reasonable spoof about the iPod Touch/iPhone. The keyboards can be difficult to use at times (although traditional phones where you have to repeatedly press keys are not fun to use either).

Apple need rid themselves of that stick that was jammed up their arse recently! They are no longer the plucky underdog they once were, thanks to the iPod and iPhone, and they need to realise that if they throw their wait around too much their image will be damaged. They can't afford to be viewed in the same way MS is, Apple's business depends greatly on their public image.
 
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
*LTD* said:
Ellen might have been straying into a bit of misrepresentation here. It's not actually satire or parody, which are situations that no reasonable person would believe to be true. Ellen depicted the iPhone as hard to use (regardless of her intent), aping the Apple-style commercial, and then followed up with the iPhone 3G and Apple logos. We've got potential copyright issues, libel issues, etc.
Click to expand...


My god man, do you ever take off those blinders?
 
P

pdjudd

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2007
4,037
65
Plymouth, MN
LethalWolfe said:
Just out of curiosity is there anything Apple can do that you will not make a valiant effort to justify?
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How about we wait until we know both sides of the story instead of what one person (a comedian no doubt) tells us before we pass judgment? Outside of not knowing who (if anyone) from Apple actually called her, we don't know what was being said or in what context was being said. People are assuming that Apple legal threatened her or what not when we have no proof of that. For all we know someone from their advertising partner division who was in carge of Apple's dealings with American Idol was a bit concerned with the usage of trademarks or something and Ellen ran with it.

Point is, we don't know what happened and people are acting as if the worst happened.
 
mysterytramp

mysterytramp

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2008
1,334
4
Maryland
pdjudd said:
People are assuming that Apple legal threatened her or what not when we have no proof of that. For all we know someone from their advertising partner division who was in carge of Apple's dealings with American Idol was a bit concerned with the usage of trademarks or something and Ellen ran with it.
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At least one part of this "controversy" doesn't make sense ... Ellen says she made this video "yesterday" and yet, why would Apple legal let her rebroadcast the offending video just so she could apologize? If Apple indeed officially objected, they wouldn't let her broadcast the video in the first place.

BTW, LTD ... libel? Really? How?

mt
 
Stella

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,883
6,477
Canada
mysterytramp said:
At least one part of this "controversy" doesn't make sense ... Ellen says she made this video "yesterday" and yet, why would Apple legal let her rebroadcast the offending video just so she could apologize?
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If its satire then there's little Apple could do to stop it from being aired? Anyone?
 
Scooterman1

Scooterman1

macrumors 6502a
May 15, 2008
939
12
Houston, Tx
The only one at Apple that had a sense of humor was the PC man.......
I don't care for Ellen's stuff, but her followup was a little funny.
 
LethalWolfe

LethalWolfe

macrumors G3
Jan 11, 2002
9,370
124
Los Angeles
pdjudd said:
How about we wait until we know both sides of the story instead of what one person (a comedian no doubt) tells us before we pass judgment? Outside of not knowing who (if anyone) from Apple actually called her, we don't know what was being said or in what context was being said. People are assuming that Apple legal threatened her or what not when we have no proof of that. For all we know someone from their advertising partner division who was in carge of Apple's dealings with American Idol was a bit concerned with the usage of trademarks or something and Ellen ran with it.

Point is, we don't know what happened and people are acting as if the worst happened.
Click to expand...
Why are you quoting me and saying that? What judgment am I passing?

All I did was ask jokingly ask *LTD* what Apple could do that he wouldn't go to any length to defend, state my opinion why Ellen's skit didn't violate any laws, and state my opinion about the skit itself.


Lethal
 
jaw04005

jaw04005

macrumors 601
Aug 19, 2003
4,571
560
AR
I'm going to repeat this again since apparently it went unnoticed with all the legal speculation.

Apple is a major advertiser and sponsor on Ellen's show. They're frequently listed at the end of the show under "promotional consideration".

Ellen gives iPods away practically every other day. In fact, I think she gave away iPods the day the commercial spoof aired.

Clearly, Ellen's spoof went over someone's head at Apple. They thought her spoof was disparaging to the brand and overreacted.

There's no legal recourse for Apple. If anything, they will pull their sponsorship. However, one would think they would be happy with Ellen's apology and endorsement of their products.
 
P

pdjudd

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2007
4,037
65
Plymouth, MN
LethalWolfe said:
Why are you quoting me and saying that? What judgment am I passing?

All I did was ask jokingly ask *LTD* what Apple could do that he wouldn't go to any length to defend, state my opinion why Ellen's skit didn't violate any laws, and state my opinion about the skit itself.


Lethal
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Sorry, I must have mis-read your posting intent.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
jaw04005 said:
Clearly, Ellen's spoof went over someone's head at Apple. They thought her spoof was disparaging to the brand and overreacted.
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And I think that's the gist of most of the conversation here, except for *LTD* who was doing logical gymnastics in a vain attempt to defend apple.

Clearly they're missing a sense of humor. One of the best attributes a person (and a corporation) can have is not to take themselves too seriously. Apple is failing to exhibit any sort of sense of humor, and quite the opposite they seem ruthless in their pursuit of brand perfection. These actions usually end up in poor media coverage as most people like to like companies (or people) that are, well nice. Apple isn't "playing" nice and its starting to show in the negative media reports.
 
A

AppleFan1984

macrumors 6502
May 6, 2010
298
0
kdarling said:
+1

I thought the same thing. Especially after she made fun of how much bigger her fingers were than she thought.
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I normally hate "me too" posts but I'm glad you wrote that. I thought I was the only one with that take on her spoof.

What's up with Apple these days?
 
G

Gomff

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2009
802
1
I've just watched the clip of Ellen apologizing and it's embarrassing.

There are times when I really like Apple as a company, like when I realize I haven't restarted my Mac for 4 weeks or when I notice that my 3 and a half year old Mac laptop still looks and works as good as new.

But then there are times like when I watched that clip when I feel very concerned. Ditto the over the top iPhone prototype theft accusations (when clearly an Apple employee got drunk and lost it) which lead to police kicking in doors. That's not the Apple of even a few years ago.

Steve's getting mean. I wonder whether his health issues have affected his outlook? When Bill Gates dies, he'll leave more behind than just the legacy of Microsoft (good, bad and ugly) - There will also be the philanthropic stuff he's doing in Africa. What will Steve's legacy be? What has he done that could be genuinely described as completely selfless? What has he given back?

Apple need to stop obsessing over media perception so much.....It's starting to look bad.
 
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