Is Apple Telling Us Not To Believe In Their Ads?

Apple's iPhone 3G has been receiving its share of raves and rants over the past several months, and the company has been the target of quite a few lawsuits over false advertising. So far, Apple has moved to dismiss such lawsuits and the courts have seemed to agree. But this latest suit is different – almost as though Apple had shot itself in the foot with a particular statement in their defense.

William Gillis, 70, of San Diego recently filed a lawsuit against the “twice as fast, half the price” iPhone 3G ad, citing it as misleading. He claimed that the iPhone 3G's performance has been excruciatingly slow, a sentiment shared with hundreds of iPhone users around the world. While the lawsuit itself isn't uncommon, Apple's defense had a line that got the blogosphere buzzing almost as soon as the PDF became available online.

It stated:

“Plaintiff's claims, and those of the purported class, are barred by the fact that the alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person in Plaintiff's position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple's statements as claims of fact.”

Of course, it's in the gibberish we call Legalese, but in this line, Apple is basically saying that none of the statements in its ads should be taken as fact. In other words: “Don't be stupid enough to believe everything we say.”

While I'm pretty sure most companies tend to stretch the truth in their advertising, I don't think Apple can weasel its way out of this one as easily as it had with their other lawsuits. The “twice as fast, half the price” ad wasn't only believable at face value, but was even supported by a simulated video.

The controversial line in Apple's defense may, of course, be only referring to that single ad. But even if it did, it does throw a wrench in the works. How, then, will the public see any future ads from Apple? Will they still trust Apple enough to buy their products with the same reckless abandon we've seen in the past?

I'm beginning to think that the marketing strategy that Apple has very successfully used in the past is now turning against them. In my opinion, Apple needs to tune it down a notch, unless it's okay with the infamy that so plagues Microsoft these days.

This story is only developing, so I might come up with another article – with probably sassier commentary on the matter – when the suit is settled in the near future.