Comedian Ellen DeGeneres apologizes for iPhone commercial parody - Page 3

Good thing the supremes hold that parody and satire can qualify as fair use. Wouldn't want people misconstruing the law to make an irrational point. There is no reason to believe that was their complaint at all.

We don't know if Apple actually even complained. Likely they didn't and Degeneres created the complaint as a segue for her next bit, which was a tongue in cheek apology. If Degeneres was being honest in saying that they did complain, then it is entirely likely she was honest when she said their complaint was "They thought I made it look like it's hard to use".

Dammit, I wish people trying to 'defend' Apple would stop and think if they are helping or hurting.

Almost everyone knows already that its easy to use.

Either DeGeneres wasted her time trying to make a paraody and/or Apple should have just taken her shenanigans at face value which was basically zero.

No where in the article does it state that Apple 'demanded an apology'. It just says they contacted her. Apple typically doesn't make poor PR decisions, and I suspect this is being portrayed as something it's not.

"representatives from Apple contacted her regarding a parody commercial she had aired on her program."

I'm sure the haters will get bent all out of shape and read more into this than what's actually printed there, but she seemed fine with Apple, and still praised the products afterward. I doubt seriously they were heavy handed or anything of the sort.

1) Do you know what a prop comic is?
2) Have you ever seen any of Ellen D's standup comedy?

Exactly. Even her apology was done in a self deprecating way which is her style of comedy.

Tell that to the many, many YouTube videos that make fun of Apple products through fake commercials. Some of them are almost direct copies of Apple's with all the same logos, similar actors, and similar scripts. They reach out to millions of viewers. Also see my Letterman comment I'm going to make below.


What about The Daily Show bit where Jon Stewart "misued" an actual iPad to "make" salsa? Or when David Letterman tried to show off showing pictures on the iPad, but got fed up with it not doing what he wanted and proceeded to lick the screen?

No, I think it's you that needs to lighten up.

Ellen Degeneres makes $15M annually.

Yea I'm about here as well...

Edit...

Tho I do somewhat agree with people calling attention to the use of Apples logos etc... but lets remember, this was aired in the middle of her show... She didn't take out AD space in the World Series.. Those of you old... err.. mature enough to remember the '_real_ SNL' episodes, they did a TON of AD parodies and ... thinking back even then they did make the effort to change the name just enough to make sure you knew it was a parody.

Little Chocolate Donuts gotta be my #1 ( such a waste.... )

I guess you're missing the entire point - as usual.

Apple didn't care about Letterman or Stewart because they have the right to purchase a physical device and use it as a skeet target if they wish. For that matter, Apple had no objection to the company which put an iPad through their blender or the one which microwaved an iPad. Those are all fair use. In fact, you pretty well proved my point. It's not the use of an iPad to make a joke that Apple complained about (if they did actually complain, that is). It was the misleading use of Apple's logo to make it look like a real ad.


Sorry, but satire does not allow you to make an ad that looks exactly like a corporation's ad. The corporation has the right to defend their brand.

I don't know what (if anything) Apple said to Degeneres. I DO, however, know how to look at facts:

- Fact: Apple had no objection to Steward or Letterman or the Microwave people or the Blender guy.
- Fact. Degeneres issued an apology to Apple for her ad (claiming that Apple contacted her).

From those facts, it is apparent that something is different in the Degeneres case. The biggest difference is that everyone else made it clear that they were presenting their own opinions while hers made it look like an Apple ad.

Do the math.

LMAO, I thought that it was funny. She couldn't work the iPhone because women have no eye to hand co-ordination.

Blog worthy insight Batman!!

Sorry, but did you think that was an actual ad? Most sane people took it as a satirical take off of an Apple ad that poked fun at Ellen in a self deprecating way.


Well, let's look at your facts
1)-Not so much a fact as an assumption. Did Apple have no objection? You know this for a fact, or just assuming? Or did Steward and Letterman or the microwave and blender guys just laugh it off if they did and so we never heard about it? Not hearing about an inane objection is not that same as stating as fact that there was no objection. This is just logic. (You know, like all oranges come from trees doesn't mean all trees have oranges-logic is your friend).
-Did they even have an objection to Degeneres for that matter?
2) She certainly issued something. Whether it was a genuine apology or just another joke is up for debate. Perhaps she was poking fun at a bunch of tightass fans that wrote her condemning her 'ad'. Not everyone has a sense of humour.
-If Apple did complain and her apology was genuine, more likely Apple complained as an advertiser and not as a trademark holder. Trademarks used in parody and satire are well protected. It was clearly a joke...well, clear for most. Apple likely has lawyers that are good enough to understand that.

Math can informative, when used appropriately. Just like logic.

You are likely right. If Apple complained at all, it was as an advertiser.

I don't think it is tactless her to do it, just because they are a sponsor. If she thought it was a worthwhile skit, it would sort of be selling out not to do it just because they are a sponsor. A sponsor buys your time and image. They might drop you if you piss them off, but I suppose integrity has a price.

Both are equally culpable of being dumbo's

Ellen for responding to their boneheaded complaint.
Apple for not knowing when a joke is a joke/parody.

when you are as successful as Apple, they are part of pop culture and fair game to make fun of.

besides, who hasn't made typos on their iphone???

Parody is fine dude. no offense, but there are hundred's of commercial parodies out there. you are completely missing the point and are being silly to rationalize Apple's response.

this was a non event which is now something, all apple needed to do was keep their mouth shut and this joke would have never aired again.

Or the tech blogs for repeating this verbatim with no evidence that it even happened, or the people commenting on tech blogs with things like "Apple need to learn how to take a joke" when no one even knows if Apple called her at all.

The amount of play this non-event is getting is pretty amazing when you consider it was a comedy routine, that we don't even know is real. If Apple did contact her, we don't know who did, what they said, what she said back etc.

IMO the "biggest fools" award goes to everyone making anti-Apple comments on the forums based on third hand information about an event that may not have even happened.

Congratulations, you completely missed the actual funny-point of the ad and managed to make a bigoted remark at the same time.

You two beat me to the punch!

Clearly the "ellen" logo on the bottom and the audience laughing in the background logically means that this "ad" was shown during the middle of Ellen's show. Your (jragosta) argument would hold up more if this "ad" was shown without any warning during a normal commercial slot. Which it clearly was not.

Like Tulkas said, there are plenty of parodies of ads (as I've mentioned, see YouTube) that use the company logos.

jragosta, you clearly missed the point of the parody - as usual. Lighten up and smile more.

That's why I don't really like her.

She has no integrity. If a comedienne makes jokes, apologizing about them afterwords, when they are not really objectionable, shows no class, no balls, and no courage.

What a friggin wimp.

Ellen's ad reminded me of those infomercials where they grossly exaggerate how bad the alternative to the product they're peddling is. John Stewart making salsa with his iPad was funny, Letterman not so much and Degeneres even less so. It seems every time I tune in to Letterman, he's less and less funny and though Ellen can be funny, her faux iPhone ad was a stretch. As others have mentioned, it was probably the use of the Apple logo that ruffled some feathers over in Cupertino.

I figured she would be good with... multitouch...ing... something... lesbian...

... Well the pieces are there

You are right there, a price few are willing to pay! lol

I actually came VERY close to crashing on the freeway when looking at the screen of my iPhone to skip to the next song. I really think there needs to be an easier way to do this without having to look at the screen (like a gesture?).

On my old iPod I of course didn't have to look at the screen because it had tactile buttons.

You bet I stopped doing that. Thank goodness lesson learned and no harm done.

The only ones that needs to lighten up are the posters on this thread.

Apple managment acts more and more like Scientology Church. Congratulations on taboo. It may not always work everywhere fortunatelly and you will not be able to do anything about it sometimes.


(An Euro in the USA)

I don't think Apple is acting like them. Sometimes some of the fans can certainly share some of the traits of the adherents.

It's called self deprecation. Just watch any of the comedic TV hosts and they all do it.

Word.

you either failed miserably at making a funny point, or you're a jerk.

back on topic: I'm in the school that believes we simply have no idea what really happened.

but guys, satire is criticism achieved by exaggeration: you want to take a shot at a corporation that packages small amounts of cereal in big boxes, you write about its next product being ten servings of cereal packed in refrigerator-sized boxes.

parody is satire through simulation: you make an ad pretending to be the cereal company's ad, showing a woman trying to squeeze the new cereal box through the front door; it won't fit so she breaks it open, starts filling bowls for the family--but by the time she gets to sissy the box runs out. mom and dad hoist the box overhead, shake it, peer inside, and one last flake falls out. fade to logo

Apple gets harder to like every day. Now they contact a comedian because of a comedy bit? Aren't any of you finding these numerous heavy-handed Apple actions a bit disconcerting? Apple the new Microsoft? Afraid so.

Poor execution? It was clear to me she was making fun of herself, or technophobes in general, not the iPhone. She could have done the same joke with any smartphone, but if she's an Apple user herself, naturally she picked that one. I thought it was well done and funny.

There are so many "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" parodies in YouTube, and there were parodies of the "switcher" ads before that, and I remember parodies of the "What's On Your PowerBook" magazine ads in the 90's ... so I would agree that since we don't know what conversation actually took place it's best not to assume Apple was trying to squelch it.

Dear Apple,

Instead of being huge jerks, you need to embrace Ellen's example. You need to show off your exceptional customer service at your stores. This is an opportunity to show Apple's capacity to assist someone as clumsy and ridiculous as Ellen's comedic persona!

Instead you sent the troglodyte to bash hammer on Ellen's head!

What's next Apple? Storm Troopers?

Hmmm... They do wear white plastic armor!

Edited by connector - 4/30/12 at 10:14pm

Quadra 610
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Well is that all the information we're going to get?

I'd like to know what the actual basis (possibly legal) for Apple's complaint was and how she actually got the complaint, and exactly who at Apple did the complaining.

Note that she didn't simply "say" things or make claims about the iPhone, but rather, she actually demonstrated its physical use via a fake commercial aired on her show.

Help kill Adobe's Flash. Join YouTube's HTML5 beta and on Vimeo just click the "Switch to HTML5 player" link below any video. http://www.youtube.com/html5
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You sir, are an idiot! As you display so well on many posts, on many threads!

"look like, feel like, Smell like, Taste like, Must be Sh*t, glad we did not step in!" Cheech n Chong

Apparently, some people leaving comments tend to believe that those in a position to buy an iPhone are drooling idiots who don't understand that when the host of a TV show plays a parody ad during their show that the host herself appears in while audience members (you know, the audience of the show) laugh in the background, it's not actually real. I know how seeing a corporate logo can totally throw you off... I mean, consider it: A snuff film that shows people being tortured with a Betty Crocker logo at the end. Oh my god, Betty Crocker, you monstrous corporate entity! I saw your LOGO! THERE'S NO WAY IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN YOU!

Oh well, they're the same people that probably would have peed their pants in crippling terror during an airing of War of the Worlds which, by the way, was also totally real.

We probably won't know who made her apologize, if anyone. It could have been someone not involved at all with Apple but with the show itself that thought it was a bad idea to make fun of an advertiser's product. Knowing Apple's reputation in the world of advertising and marketing, it seems probable that Apple wouldn't have to say anything for someone involved with the show to understand the "mistake" they made. Apple might have just called her up to reinforce the point, who knows. What I DO know is that it does look bad for Apple, whether they forced her to apologize or not.

At the end of the day, as long as we all don't say or do anything to anger the corporations or their diehard fans, we'll all be just fine.

Apple & Steve Jobs are the new A**Holes of the tech industry...

There was a time when Microsoft was seen as a bad guy, but as of late Google and Apple seem to be the new jerks of tech.

Or is it just me?

This is up there with Disney slapping day cares with copyright infringements for painting mickey mouse on it's walls.

I haven't seen Google doing the asshatish stuff that Apple is doing lately.

Just as a single point of contrast, Google refused to give in to Chinese censorship, while Apple is modifying its Chinese iPhone in order to play footsie with a repressive government.

Google didn't refuse anything with regard to Chinese censorship. They went all in with that shit. Only when the Chinese got caught rifling through Googles systems did Google threaten to pull out...fulfiling this threat by moving to HK, a part of China and unblocking the censored sites. I have no doubt that Google will eventually 'come to terms' with China and resume their state ordered censoring.

Google has pulled their fair share of dick moves. Theirs just usually aren't the type that puts them in the character of a bully. Some of Apples moves lately certainly make it easier to paint them as a bully.

On top of that he's comparing search engine censorship to laws regarding HW. Always with the trolling that one.

I think there has been some suspicion that the security spec for the Chinese national wifi includes build-in allowances for government sniffing. If this is the case, it would have been a valid comparison of how the two companies handle a government requests for assistance in areas that could easily lead to frightening human rights violations by that government. The fact the Google had given in for years to the chinese gov really made the comparison, meant to paint Apple negatively compared to Google, a poor choice.

Both companies are more than capable of dick moves.

Name a country that doesn't monitor or regulate communication in some regard? I don't think there are any. But if he (WilliamG/iGenius/TeckStud) really had a problem with China then they wouldn't support any company that has their products made in China or uses Chinese made components, but since he has clearly stated how many Apple products he buys he's just a hypocrite.

China has laws just like other countries and companies wanting to sell HW have to agree to their laws, whether they like them or not. Probably more so than any other CE company Apple builds their products to follow as many nations requirements as possible. It just so happens that this time China had an unusual rule that required atypical model to be sold for a short time.

The only thing that should be questioned here is what Apple did to the iPhone to disable WiFi and what were their financial goals with this stunted device knowing the law was being dropped and that gray market devices were already easily had by many.


Altruism only belongs in business as a veil to making more money. Like with Apple's "Green" campaign, which in part is to allow their products to not have issues with worldwide sales like the iSight camera did at one point.