UK watchdog clears Apple ads

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has cleared Apple's 'I'm a Mac, I'm a PC' ad campaign starring comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb after several complaints from viewers. 

Apple's national press campaign for the Apple Mac suggested that PCs were vulnerable to viruses and often needed to be restarted.

The ASA received 14 complaints about the ads, most of which claimed that they were potentially misleading.

Most of the complainants pointed out that viruses attack software and operating systems, not hardware, and that a PC could use a variety of software and operating systems, some of which contracted similar low numbers of viruses as Mac OS X.

The complainants questioned whether the ads misleadingly implied that all PCs, regardless of the software or operating system, were vulnerable to crashing, would contract a number of viruses and would frequently need to be restarted.

Eight of the 14 complainants questioned whether the claim 'I run Mac OS X so you don't have to worry about the viruses and spyware that PCs do' was misleading and irresponsible.

The implication, according to the complaints, was that Mac computers could not be infected by viruses and therefore did not require virus protection.

Apple said that the ads were based on PCs that ran Microsoft Windows, which it believed were more vulnerable to crashing, would contract more viruses and would need to be restarted more frequently than Macs.

Apple added that the ads were targeted at the home consumer, not the technology professional.

The company asserted that almost 97 per cent of home PCs, used for non-commercial purposes, run on a version of Windows and that the claims were accurate for the target audience.

The ASA has agreed with Apple's stance that it is understood that Macs are able to run Microsoft Windows but also noted that it was not the principal operating system they used, or came packaged with, and did not require Microsoft Windows to operate.

The watchdog considered that the claims in the ads would be understood to refer to Macs that run Apple software and PCs that run Microsoft Windows.

Apple was therefore not in breach of clauses concerning 'Responsible advertising', 'Truthfulness' or 'Other comparisons' as suggested by the complaints.

Apple confirmed that the ads are no longer in use and that the firm has no plans to run them again.