Two consumers complained to the Advertising Standards Authority of the UK that the Apple iPhone 3G’s TV advertisement was misleading (you can view it here), as it boasted about the iPhone’s web capabilities, while the phone couldn’t even play Java or Flash, which are common in websites.

The publicity video stated that “all parts of the internet are on the iPhone“, while this isn’t true. Apple fought back, and here’s what ASA quotes from them:

They believed the ad was not about technical details or the functionalities or plug-ins that were available on the iPhone, but the varied websites that users could visit and utilize.  They said all the websites featured in the ad were available on the iPhone and were shown as they would be seen by the user.  They said none of the content in the ad was Flash or Java based and the ad did not mention any other technical capabilities of the iPhone.  Apple believed that it was clear that the reference in the ad to “all parts of the internet” referred to internet site availability, not to every aspect of functionality available on every website.  They said the decision not to enable some proprietary software would not affect the ability of the iPhone user to access any part of the internet, only their ability to access particular content that used third party technology.

It didn’t work with the regulator, and ASA decided that the “The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications). “, and that “ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. “

Now will you include Flash on your phones, Apple?

[via Engadget]