Stupid goddamned iPhone commercials

I’ve never really liked the iPhone/iPod commericals. They’re always the same – some new bit of music, which, even if I like it, was seemingly chosen based on its ability to get old rrrrreally fast. Couple that with people dancing or something silly, but never anything substantive, and they’re just totally ineffective commercials, to me.

Man, now I’m longing for the commercials where people don’t talk, because these new testimonial-type commercials are the worst!

First, you’ve got the guy from Brooklyn (based on his accent), saying how it was such a pain in the ass before he got his iPhone, when he had to carry his iPod, his camera, his phone, and his other phone that he used for messaging. He had to carry four things! sob The plight of this poor, poor man! Especially when, for some reason, he carried two fucking phones?? What, the phone you used for messaging couldn’t be used for, you know, phone calls? deep breath OK, maybe one was a work phone, and one a play phone. I was in that boat myself. But you’re telling me that this special phone used only for messaging didn’t have a camera built into it? You had to carry a separate camera? deeper breath OK, that’s because the camera in phones are generally not so good. But… isn’t that still fucking true with the iPhone camera??? Plus, to end the commercial, he says something like, “So now I just grab my wallet and my iPhone, hop in my car, and I’m off!” Hold on here, let me do my math… wallet… iPhone… keys for your car… that’s already three things! The second you find out that the iPhone camera sucks whale cock, you’ll be back to four. Your life will be in the shitter again! Man, poor guy.

The second commercial doesn’t bug me as much. It’s a ballerina who has some blog with a goofy name, and she’s going on about how she can take pictures of backstage action (sigh, not THAT kind of backstage action) and update her blog immediately with her iPhone. Why this justifies $600 when you could almost as easily take pictures and then update your blog when you get home eludes me, but maybe she makes millions based on her ability to update her blog instantly. Whatever. But then at the end of the commercial, she says something like, “And the iPhone is the first piece of technology ever that lets me do all of this.” That’s just flat-out, Jobsian, “Nothing was truly invented until it was invented by JOBS” bullshit. What, there weren’t any smartphones before Apple made one? Lying bitch.

But the worst… oh man… it’s the co-pilot. He’s standing there bitching about how his plane was grounded on the tarmac and was going to be there for HOURS. Except… this genius had his iPhone, could check the weather, and could see that the storms had passed. Holy fuck! The plane would have been really late had he not had his iPhone! We’ve GOT to get these cutting-edge devices up to the air traffic controllers, so they can check the weather as quickly as this guy could! I don’t know how the air traffic controllers tell the weather now, but they NEED iPhones!
Bah, a load of horseshit, the lot of them. Trying to convince us that we NEED this overpriced, overhyped toy when, really, it’s at best a small timesaver. Eff you, Jobs, and your faux, scripted and yet somehow shitty testimonials.

I’ve updated my blog with photos from my shitty little Sprint $50 phone. Do they really say this is the first way you could do that? That’s just plain untrue.

I think Maddox said it best. He often does.

And so on.

Yeah, poor guy. I carry four less items and get by just fine.

I do enjoy leering at the ballerina, however.

-Joe

I generally like Apple products, but this particular commercial really get me going. Is our air traffic routing system THAT bad that we need a guy with a phone to figure out the weather in Cleveland (or wherever the heck they were going) and call up the air traffic controllers to tell them that, no really, it’s okay for us to take off? Say what? Is it even the pilot’s place to do something like that? What, they don’t use up-to-date weather maps in the control towers? It doesn’t make sense on so many levels.

I can’t disagree with anything above, but I gotta say - the voice mail ad is compelling. Very cool that you can pick and choose which one to listen to.

The rest suck, especially the pilot.

You missed the one that really gripes me. A guy who’s written a play called “The First Time” (which is, he explains, about exactly what you think it’s about) which is now running off-Broadway (lest we confuse it with the latest $100-a-ticket blockbuster hit) and has a fan website, which he constantly monitors using his iPhone, then calls the director to point out things which people report there, like one of the actors blew a line or seems to be losing his concentration. He doesn’t mention how the director, who obviously wouldn’t be aware of what’s happening onstage without his help, is seriously considering that the playwright place his iPhone someplace that would no doubt void the warrantly.

Sweet car though.

It could be worse. They could bring back Jeff Goldblum.

“Step one, plug it in…step two, plug it into the phone line…step three…there’s no step three!! Ha ha!”

Uh, yes there is.

Maybe Muscleboy who can’t stand to have more than two things in his pockets has a Bluetooth ignition switch and locks on his classic Riviera. I hope his wallet has room for his condoms. :dubious:

I’ve seen more than enough of those “Oh, they’re my network,” ads. Very low-key, subtle humor is okay, but most of them just are not funny. Maybe it’s a reassuring metaphor, but a fella wouldn’t want to take his phone with him on a hot date. You’d look up through your steamed-up windows, and there would be Mr. CanYouHearMeNow and a couple hundred of his colleagues, each with a little friendly wave. Buzz Kill.

Does the ballerina use the camera to take up-skirt photos of the other dancers?

But it’s true! The iPhone really is the first piece of technology that lets you do all this with an iPhone.

I generally like the music-based Apple ads, and the John Hodgeman ones were okay, but these ones are pretty annoying. There’s been a rash of rich white douchebags in commercials lately (that chick singing “These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things” drives me nuts), and I these are definitely encroaching.

If I’m hearing the co-pilot one right he says he calls the tower and a half hour later they call back to let them go. That tells me they ignored him completely and let the plane go when they did their next check on the weather themselves. All the iPhone did was make the copilot stand out as an asshole to the tower crew.

As for the ballerina uploading her pictures to her “blog” immediately somebody should gently let her know that it’s just not that urgent. Later that night would do just fine. Not uploading them at all would probably be just as good.

First of all, I need my pictures of her NOW.

Anyway, if I had to guess, it’s one of those things where she’s doing her blog updates from her iPhone(C)™(ETC) because she’s bored for those couple minutes and it keeps her entertained. When she can actually DO things (ie. later that night) she probably doesn’t do anything so tediously annoying.

You’d be amazed how many people I don’t actually give a shit about when I’m on the road or sitting and waiting - but I’d never call them if I could actually be doing something I choose to be doing.

Hmm…on the one hand I’m defending an iPhone ad (ugh) and on the other I’m defending a cute girl.

I guess that’s why I feel half dirty.

-Joe

I came into this thread to say exactly this. The rest of those commercials suck, but this one got my attention.

Ditto. And I really want that feature.

Being able to do it during odd moments of down time is an advantage but that’s not the way the commercial spins it. It’s positively urgent that she get those pictures uploaded in real time and that’s an attitude that drives me nuts. The relative importance of various activities is getting more and more skewed. Some things can wait.

Besides, if it’s so tediously annoying to do the updates then perhaps she’d be better off finding some other way to occupy her time.