Apple presses Ctrl-Eject on Cease & Desist machine for student's iPod ad

October 26, 2007 11:23 AM

Student creates mock iPod ad. Apple comes a knocking. Ends happily this Sunday
posted by jaimev (40 comments total)

So it doesn't say how much they paid him, does it?
posted by R. Mutt at 11:28 AM on October 26, 2007

We should just start tattooing Nike Swooshes on our children's foreheads at birth and be done with it.
posted by Item at 11:33 AM on October 26, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Nice ad. It's funny that the song is by CSS, whom also had a song pre-loaded on the Zune.
posted by yeti at 12:11 PM on October 26, 2007

Pepsi Blah.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:15 PM on October 26, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Well, this kid's ad introduced me to a pretty decent new song to listen to, which is a major criteria of likability for me, so I'm pleased that he had a nice experience being creatively co-opted. A little jealous, as well.
posted by chudmonkey at 12:31 PM on October 26, 2007

From the article: "Leave it to Apple to ­ paraphrasing the company's old slogan a bit think differently."

I have read this sentence 5 times and still can't figure it out.
posted by itchylick at 12:34 PM on October 26, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

"Leave it to Apple to ­ paraphrasing the company's old slogan a bit think differently."

Student's home copy editing project nets him a job at the New York Times.
posted by Adam_S at 12:38 PM on October 26, 2007 [7 favorites has favorites]

iPod blah blah blah blah blah blah Apple blah blah blah iPhone blah blah blah blah blah blah iTunes blah blah blah iPod blah blah blah blah blah blah iTouch blah blah blah iPod blah blah blah blah blah blah macbook blah blah blah.

I expect 1000 favourites now.
posted by srboisvert at 12:39 PM on October 26, 2007 [26 favorites has favorites]

So, making commercials is the new creativity? And we're celebrating this exactly why?
posted by psmealey at 12:42 PM on October 26, 2007

i think some commas got lost and 'think' should be before 'a bit'. But I'm by no means a grammar expert.
posted by SomeOneElse at 12:42 PM on October 26, 2007

Consumers creating commercials "is part of this brave new world we live in," said Lee Clow

*shudders*
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:47 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The New York Times on YouTube comments:
He uploaded his commercial to YouTube, where it received four stars out of a possible five and comments that ranged from "That's awesome," followed by 16 exclamation points, to "Makes me want to buy one and hack it."
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 12:48 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

"Leave it to Apple to --­ paraphrasing the company's old slogan a bit -- think differently," maybe?
posted by librarina at 12:56 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nice ad. It's funny that the song is by CSS, whom also had a song pre-loaded on the Zune.

Who. Just sayin'.
posted by Reggie Digest at 12:58 PM on October 26, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Consumers creating commercials "is part of this brave new world we live in,"

HURL... bplllptttot HURL cough, cough, gaghghsakfls HURL... cough, cough... sniff. Oh, God... here it comes again... HURL! Bllalablpglt. cough. cough.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 12:58 PM on October 26, 2007

Sigh.

It's really time we start building the Golgafrincham Ark fleet ship B.
posted by DreamerFi at 1:05 PM on October 26, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

See? Apple loves you! And you! And you!
posted by Dr-Baa at 1:12 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

martinX: The New York Times recently had an equally deadpan summary of comments on MySpace's fashions subsite:

"You have to admire the democracy of the forum for allowing users to instantly critique their celebrity idols. Typical comments on the videos ranged from 'man those outfits looked terrible' to 'if you do not copy and paste this onto 10 videos your mom will die in 4 hours.'"
posted by Ian A.T. at 1:35 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

when ever i see all the nodding heads on the bus with white wires threading into their ears, i think of this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UIEDPQmcYbY
posted by klanawa at 1:49 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

er... this
posted by klanawa at 1:53 PM on October 26, 2007

Awww. I thought it was a cute story. What? I did.
posted by gummi at 2:26 PM on October 26, 2007

Well then, I wasn't expecting these responses.

So, making commercials is the new creativity? And we're celebrating this exactly why?
Why not? Commercials and advertising have become such an intrisic part of our society and economy that art is inevitably going to reflect this (whether it embraces or satirizes it). Hell, graphic arts seems to have its roots in ads. I don't know why you feel art cannot be commercial at all -- a lot of commercial art is crap, sure, but it doesn't imply any relationship.

Anyway, it's an impressive commercial for an 18-year-old to have done by himself.
posted by spiderskull at 2:36 PM on October 26, 2007

I love how he goes from Nick Haley at the start to Mr. Haley in rest of the article. You can see the sellout happening right there in the writing.
posted by srboisvert at 2:42 PM on October 26, 2007

martinX's bellbottoms, Ian A.T.: How about XKCD's summary of eBay comments?

Instead of office chair package contained bobcat
posted by vsync at 2:58 PM on October 26, 2007

This has inspired me to get off my butt and make that kick-ass KFC ad I know I have in me.
posted by mazola at 3:00 PM on October 26, 2007 [5 favorites has favorites]

I don't know why you feel art cannot be commercial at all

That's a separate debate. Art it may or may not be, what it is, to me (and maybe only me) is lame. He's a kid using whatever creative skills he has to develop an ad for a multi-billion dollar company to sell a product. Is a 16 year old writing an amicus brief in support of the Boeing Corporation for an upcoming Superior Court case really, really cool? I don't see much difference between that, and this. It probably takes more skill to write the brief, though, given the relative ease and high quality of video production tools nowadays.

Great, he's precocious, ready for J. Walter Thompson. Somebody get that kid a cigar, a corner office and a suit by Zegna. Yea!

I'd rather see a hundred more ceiling cat posts than hear about this. There's something just inherently corrupt and corrosive about this kid and this story.
posted by psmealey at 3:03 PM on October 26, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

MiltonRandKalman

I can't believe they used the phrase "brave new world" unironically.
posted by Target Practice at 3:07 PM on October 26, 2007

What is "mock" about the ad?
posted by telstar at 3:08 PM on October 26, 2007

I love how he goes from Nick Haley at the start to Mr. Haley in rest of the article. You can see the sellout happening right there in the writing.

You must not read the NY Times much--that's how they refer to all subjects in an article, after the initial paragraph.

As for the 'is it art' debate--for me, intent matters. If your intent is to sell me an ipod, then however you do it is not art. You're trying to elicit desire from me, that's pornographic (once again invoking Joyce).

Now, a thoughtful creation with themes of the ipod's impact on how we interact with music in our daily lives, that could be art.
posted by LooseFilter at 4:06 PM on October 26, 2007

The whole concept of "selling out" is misguided and fairly pretentious. It imagines some pristine world where artists are motivated solely by some higher desire, and don't have any other needs or desires. Reality is fundamentally more complex, as are people's motivations. It's not only possible, but extremely common, for an artist to have both an "artistic" (in this sense) and a commercial motivation. I fail to see how the motivation has any bearing on my enjoyment of the art, however, which is why the term "selling out" seems so bad to me.

Of course, the whole point is anyone is free to like what they want, so if for some reason the involvement of money bother you, then whatever. But if it doesn't, then I don't see the difference between a well-crafted ad and a well-crafted song (created by well-paid artists ).

I also don't think trying to make me want things is bad, and I think that's another fundamental difference between some people. Clearly, some people think there is something morally wrong with the basic concept of advertising. I find that belief strange, and I don't understand it, but I recognize that it exists.

(Disclaimer: while I am not an artist, I am definitely primarily motivated by money when it comes to my work. Money isn't the best thing in life, but it does make life a whole lot easier.)
posted by wildcrdj at 4:16 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

From the article HTML: Leave it to Apple to \302\255 paraphrasing the company's old slogan a bit \302\255 think differently.

The numerical escape sequences are utf-8 encoded soft hyphens. They should not be used to bracket a parenthetical remark; such usage is definitely incorrect. The author should have used en dashes instead.
posted by ryanrs at 4:19 PM on October 26, 2007

And you know what else? Changing "think different" to "think differently" isn't even paraphrasing!

Someone's head will roll for this.
posted by No-sword at 5:17 PM on October 26, 2007

The whole concept of "selling out" is misguided and fairly pretentious.

You and I have different conceptions of 'selling out'. My understanding is that it refers to an artist who changes what he/she does in order to make money; if your intent from the outset is to make money, then by definition you can't sell out. If, on the other hand, you want to write and sing songs that are meaningful to people, and Apple approaches you and offers you money to use your song, provided you change the lyrics to be about ipods, accepting that would be selling out.

Some people make a negative value judgement about that, others think it's perfectly OK--and both perspectives have good reasons--but regardless of whether you think it's good or bad, selling out is selling out.

My point about ads in general is not that they're about money so that they must be bad, but that the idea of 'art' does mean some specific things--things much discussed and written about by people lots smarter than myself--and intent has a lot to do with those ideas. I reference James Joyce because he laid out ideas about what should be considered art, and I think they're pretty good ideas that make for interesting points of reference in such matters.
posted by LooseFilter at 5:36 PM on October 26, 2007

The whole concept of "selling out" is misguided and fairly pretentious.

Your conception of it is clearly. In order to sell out, you actually have to have standards and principles to begin with, but I digress. This isn't about "selling out" anyway. As slickly produced as this is, and even moreso for an 18 year old (whatever the fuck that means... why is this any such wonder that the guy is 18) this ad to do it, it's still just an ad. And it's pretty boring.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 5:46 PM on October 26, 2007

ryanrs:

They should not be used to bracket a parenthetical remark; such usage is definitely incorrect. The author should have used en dashes instead.

Actually the author should have used a single em dash at each end of the parenthetical remark.
posted by vsync at 6:03 PM on October 26, 2007

The question isn't whether it's selling out or not, or art or not, but whether or not it's lame and it is. First of all, art? It's a bunch of remixed shots from the regular commercials set to different music, right? I mean if the shots are original, it might be interesting, but I doubt it, the kid couldn't even manage to upload it to you tube with consistent black levels, the background looks all fucked up.

And he didn't write the song himself either. I could have done that ad when I was in high school, but I wouldn't have because I hated apple just as much then as I do now.
posted by delmoi at 6:31 PM on October 26, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

The question isn't whether it's selling out or not, or art or not, but whether or not it's lame and it is.

True, and funny. Though if you were to list your criteria for determining its lameness, I think you'd quickly find yourself in the territory I mention.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:41 PM on October 26, 2007

We live in a fucked up times (I'm not talking about pain pills), times when ads are the main products.
posted by zouhair at 3:16 AM on October 27, 2007

vsync wrote: Actually the author should have used a single em dash at each end of the parenthetical remark.

Before I posted my earlier comment I tried to find an online version of the Times's style guide. Although I failed to turn up a copy of the guide, I did find a couple vaguely related news articles. These two articles use a space-hyphen-space sequence instead of the more common(?) unspaced em dash. The Chicago Manual of Style Q+A suggests such usage is not unprecedented.

Recent online articles, however, use spaced em dashes. The Times appears to use this style in print as well.
posted by ryanrs at 4:31 AM on October 27, 2007

The whole concept of "selling out" is misguided and fairly pretentious.

That only works if you enunciate it with college freshman coffee shop know-it-all voice.
posted by Hypnic jerk at 4:55 AM on October 27, 2007