Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads cleared

Claims made in Apple's 'Get a Mac' adverts have been deemed acceptable by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), despite 14 complaints from the public.

Some of the complaints were made about the assertion that Mac owners wouldn't have to "worry about the viruses and spyware that PCs do", saying that this was both misleading and irresponsible.

Other complaints centred on claims that Macs crashed less than PCs, and the implication that all PCs, no matter what software or operating system they used, were more likely to crash than Macs.

Apple defended itself by arguing that it had meant that the Mac wasn't susceptible to the same viruses that PCs were and as most viruses were written for Microsoft Windows, Macs did not suffer the same security risks.

Furthermore, the company asserted that 97 per cent of home computers in the UK ran on Microsoft Windows and it considered Windows to be more likely to crash than Mac OS.

Tha ASA did not uphold any of the complaints.

"The ads did not misleadingly imply all PCs, regardless of software or system, were vulnerable to crashing and viruses," the ASA said in its adjudication.

"We considered that people would understand that to mean viruses that infected Windows-based PCs would not infect Macs and that Macs were less likely to be infected by viruses than those PCs; not that Macs would never be infected by viruses and did not require virus protection.

"We concluded therefore that the ad was not irresponsible or likely to mislead," the ASA said.

The ads, which feature comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb, stars of Peep Show, as a PC and a Mac respectively, have been shown on television, online, on billboards and in newspapers.

www.asa.org.uk

More news via RSS Post item to Del.icio.us Post item to Digg.com