A Gentle Request: Give the Apple Bashing a Rest Please

[hyperlinked]

The thing is, game consoles are a market where you expect a walled garden. (That said, there's XNA on the Xbox 360, and there was Other OS on the PS3, and Linux for the PS2.) Smartphones, OTOH, weren't a walled garden before the iPhone came out.

So then there's Android, which has its own app store for now, but if they can't break Apple's hold on the Apps market, what will they do? Keep trying to be Apple even harder? No, they'll put their bets down that the only way forward is to not be Apple and offer everyone disgrunted by Apple an alternative.

Or maybe they'll succeed with a walled garden and then what does Microsoft do with Windows Mobile or HP do with their acquisition of Palm? One of these guys is certainly going to take the path of least resistance.

[bhtooefr]

I wasn't referring to Android in general, where the Market is only one option for where to get apps, I was more referring to AT&T's Android phones, and Windows Phone 7.

And, Microsoft is already going down the walled garden path with Windows Phone 7 - to the point of, copying the LACK of features from the iPhone for the sake of copying the iPhone.

[kishy]

Back on topic: annoying modern music.

Amazon Kindle commercial song.

[wellington1869]

oh god, someone shoot me.  Honda has jumped on the"most horrible song in a commercial"bandwagon. Just saw this ad on tv, found it on youtube already of course.

Its by some god-awful band named Ellem.  Same idea: Take some youngish bourgeoise white trash housewife with absolutely no personality to speak of, have her sing about butterflies with an acoustic guitar. For some reason Apple thought this was their target market, and now more and more major corporations are jumping on board with this style of advertisement. Oh god, just shoot me now.

"Ellem" gives "Feist" a run for her (their? I dont even know, dont want to know!) money.

[ch_123]

Yeah. The other variation on this that does my head in is the "Acoustic, dry voiced female rendition of famous songs". There was an ad doing the rounds a few months ago that featured such a version of David Bowie's "Let's Dance". Terrifying stuff.

[wellington1869]

Terrifying stuff.

Indeed! I cant scramble for the mute button on the remote control fast enough when these horrors come on.  If i cant get to it in time then basically people around me are in danger of their lives as the song turns me into some kind of raging homocidal maniac.  Either that or I bash my own head in against the wall while its playing  Anything to make it stop

Have you noticed that for some reason these women really like to count? Their other favorite activity is naming the days of the week, or naming the colors of the rainbow.

[Rajagra]

Bad music is only acceptable if it's funny.
(I held back from posting this in a couple of other threads, but bad taste has got the better of me.)

[ch_123]

or naming the colors of the rainbow.

Did you guys have that Dell ad too?

[Rajagra]

Did you guys have that Dell ad too?

The one with the colourful turds?

Edit> I was thinking of the lollipop one.

[ch_123]

That describes every Dell ad made in the past two years. I am referring to a certain gut-wrenching, PTSD-inducing ad that begins with "I am Green today", and fails to stop at this point...

[wellington1869]

Did you guys have that Dell ad too?

its like we're in kindergarten when these stupid songs come on -- they're infantilizing.  Thats what they are. (Not to mention, just horrible as songs).
And i think they're meant to be infantilizing! Its like, here, let me talk to you like you're 6 months old, and maybe you'll buy my product. I figure the singer is either as dumb as a child, or is so condescending that she thinks we are. Neither of which bodes well for my impression of her. (Or the ad executives who thought these songs were a good idea to put in their ads!).

[wellington1869]

That describes every Dell ad made in the past two years. I am referring to a certain gut-wrenching, PTSD-inducing ad that begins with "I am Green today", and fails to stop at this point...

oh dear god, make it stop!  One more for the box of evidence...

Its absolutely not a coincidence that the kid singing along here is like 5 years old.  Thats how old dell thinks the rest of us are, too.  Its like they want us to feel that stupid when the ad comes on.

[microsoft windows]

With that cow-print blanket it looks like they're advertising Gateway 2000 (Back when they were real American computers, not the chinese junk you all find today).

[wellington1869]

Bad music is only acceptable if it's funny.
(I held back from posting this in a couple of other threads, but bad taste has got the better of me.)

lol! at least that one was funny.

[kishy]

OMG, the Honda commercial...much like driver's licenses, people should be required to obtain singing licenses.

RE: remakes of old songs: Lincoln and Cadillac are both using modernized versions of older songs, for example Space Oddity, but not nearly as crapified as many.

[ch_123]

Honda used to be cool.

[ricercar]

My ears! The plugs, they do NOTHING!

[hyperlinked]

My ears! The plugs, they do NOTHING!

As Marshal McLuhan said, auditory memes are more subversive because you can't choose whether you hear something or not. You have eyelids, but no ear lids.

[kishy]

My ears! The plugs, they do NOTHING!

Silly, those are earbuds.

[Rajagra]

The horror. The horror...

[wellington1869]

a much needed palate cleanser

How come these guys never get an ad?

[wellington1869]

Actually, they will.  That sickens me much more than cute pop songs.

youre right, there's something sad about seeing Lennon being used to sell shoes.

Lennon was in Apple's Think Different campaign too.

I always thought this was one of the more ironic advertizing posters ever made, given Apple's censorship of the dalai lama!


Seriously, when did Apple become one of the bad guys? I have so much respect for Google for pulling out of China.

For that matter, Gandhi was in that Think Different campaign too: more irony, as the greatest critics and renouncers of material goods are used to sell high priced modernity.

Too bad the good guys are better left poor and unnoticed.

How absurd is this?:

[kishy]

ripster, not even funny as a joke. She's garbage.

[wellington1869]

ripster, not even funny as a joke. She's garbage.

lol, i have to agree. You know I can be pretty generous when it comes to art, but my god, there have to be limits!

[itlnstln]

Paul Anka. Ouch.

[quadibloc]

I always thought this was one of the more ironic advertizing posters ever made, given Apple's censorship of the dalai lama!

But this was only the Chinese App Store. As a company doing business in China, they have no choice but to obey Chinese laws there.

Of course, doing business in China is morally questionable in itself, but the competition does so, so they really have little choice.

[wellington1869]

But this was only the Chinese App Store. As a company doing business in China, they have no choice but to obey Chinese laws there.

Of course, doing business in China is morally questionable in itself, but the competition does so, so they really have little choice.

agreed, but then they should stop pretending like they're all about doing good and being responsible. If they're business ****s like everyone else, they should embrace that!  The apple ad campaign (that featured gandhi and the dalai lama and others) was clearly meant to give the imperssion that apple was all about do-gooding, responsibility, innovation, etc. Well, no, they're ****s-like-everyone-else.

[quadibloc]

As a AAPL shareholder just let me say....

I remember the movie which that scene came from. Unfortunately, there aren't any clips of Kirsten Dunst from Cat's Meow on YouTube...

[microsoft windows]

I decided to go do some apple bashing today. How'd I do?

[microsoft windows]

I WILL NEVER STOP BASHING APPLE, BECAUSE IT'S A CRAPPY COMPANY THAT SELLS OVERPRICED GARBAGE. TO HELL WITH APPLE!