Apple iPhone advert banned

10:33 Thu 28 August 2008

Apple has had a TV advertisement for the iPhone banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ad shows an iPhone user navigating through various webpages with a voiceover that states: "You never know which part of the internet you'll need...Which is why all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone."

But a number of viewers contacted the ASA claiming that the information presented by Apple was misleading as the iPhone doesn't support either Flash or Java applications, the backbone of a large number of websites. The ASA agreed stating that the ad gave a "misleading impression" of the iPhone's web capacity.

Apple has countered claiming that their advert talks about "site availability rather than technical detail" and that all of the sites featured are available via the iPhone, but the ASA have ruled that the ad cannot be aired in its current form.