When wildly popular talk show host Ellen DeGeneres tossed in a faked iPhone ad on her syndicated program which has proved to be the epic morning highlight for a bazillion soccer Moms, it wasn't the kind of thing Apple found funny. Especially when the spoof made the iPhone look like a hopeless mess to use.
Apple reportedly contacted the TV show host and pulled off an American Idol style critique of Ellen's little laugh out loud iPhone moment. DeGeneres quickly apologized to Apple on the air in a somewhat cheeky fashion, gushing with undying love for all things Apple and beyond.
"I love my iPad, I love my iPod," she said to applause from the audience. "I love IHOP, if you have anything to do with that."
The "ad" is actually a more pointed spoof of people who are technologically clueless enough to bring even Apple's vaunted ease of use to its knees. And it is, of course, Ellen's MO to portray herself as the primero doofus, which she did very nicely.
The fatal flaw of the spoof is that her people did such a nice Apple splash page at the end: these guys (not just Apple, but especially) are such ninnies about pesky things like copyrights. All she really had to do, to keep herself out of hot water with the attorneys, was tag a little disclaimer on the end, "Apple, Inc. had nothing to do with this ad. We were just having fun at my expense."
They probably would have still gotten a call, because that's what lawyers do; but I think it would have been a little more light-hearted, slap on the wrist. Can lawyers do 'light hearted'? Never mind.
Ellen still would have covered her keister better, with a disclaimer in the mock ad. :-)
Posted by: My friend, George | June 08, 2010 at 08:23 AM
C'mon Mr.Macintosh, don't be so sensitive. It's only a joke, you guys should have confidence in your product considering everyone's trying to copy everything you guys release. I think the whole sparring match between them Adobe and Google has them on pins and needles.
Posted by: NookSurfer | May 05, 2010 at 02:55 PM
It's more interesting to delve into why Ellen made fun at iPhone in the first place, she's definitely not trying to promote Apple, so the only reason left is that she hates her iPhone.
Of course Apple mad at Ellen, she dished one of the iPhone's most important features that Apple so proud of: it's easy to use.
One thing for sure, she won't be getting Apple sponsorship in near future.. Oh wait, perhaps that's why she dished iPhone in the first place, she's been trying get a free iPhone or free MacBooks for years from Apple.. LOL
Posted by: Antwoine | May 04, 2010 at 11:01 PM