The page above is littered with egregiously bad marketing copy.

I mean it. All over.

See, for instance, the screenshot below. Because come to think of it, I actually *didn't* know who respected that my music was the thing that keeps me going. Thanks, Apple!

Unfortunately, something tells me this is just the tip of the iceberg, and in the spirit of holding a really remarkable company responsible for its mistakes in hopes that it will change, a challenge: find the worst examples of Apple marketing copy, and paste them here. Links or screenshots. Go!

Hm! Looks like I ran into a Branch bug with links rendered with the first post. Fixing now, but in the meantime, here's that screenshot:

Watching the keynote today and now looking at the page, I am concerned that Apple is going backwards. If you compare pictures of Steve Jobs with the original color iMacs and the Clamshell iBook you get a sense that he was trying to "wow" people with color.

The more recent Apple, the one that made the rebound has been more focused on design and much of it being minimalistic.

When I saw the bright, BRIGHT colors of the new iPods, it just felt wrong. Now that I have seen the page you refer to, I think there is clearly a regression to the "Fun" apple. Neon colors, flashy wristbands.. is the colored striped apple logo coming back next?

On the "Why You'll Love A Mac" marketing page, these reasons seem terribly vague and unconvincing: dl.dropbox.com

Though I kinda like this, Libby: twitter.com

(p.s. that's probably why you're the Branch copy rockstar)

ugh, I used the word "rockstar"

The world's most advanced OS.. I mean I like it but it takes a lot of work to user your mac as a developer platform. Hacking expect and tcl so that it works on both OSX and Linux is a pita.

Sorry for dragging the conversation off a bit. Here is a better addition:

dropbox.com

A pun? On the front page of apple.com?

If the link never comes through it says "The biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone"

@ Josh - Hahaha. Won't hold it against you JUST THIS ONCE. The fact that two of those three begin with "It comes with..." makes me cringe a little.

@Steve - Yeah. I actually thought the same thing. Hold on I'm looking for this one really horrific photo of a fanned out bunch of iPods...

Is it this one Libby?

images.scribblelive.com

YES. AHHHHH. It's not marketing copy but I think it gets an honorary mention in this anyway. WHAT IS GOING ON THERE?

Reminiscent of ..

cdn.dipity.com

Wow! You're totally right.

I can get behind the need to "lighten up a little" post-Jobs, but "fun" just seems like such an obvious, expected thing for a consumer technology company to try for.

After I tweeted these earlier, a friend texted to ask if it was possible that they were actively trying to appeal to a younger demographic (youth, teens, etc.). That fits with wanting to lighten up but... I can't possibly believe Apple is underperforming with a youth demographic such that this would make sense. (Related: I am too lazy to look up whether earnings reports are broken out by demo.)

They just need to get devices in hands. The app store takes care of the rest. Why try to sell teens on the PERSONALITY of using it as a gimmick?

Here is my quick hack of putting them next to each other :)

t.co

Good points all around. Where I disagree is this: overall, there is more to learn from Apple when it comes to marketing/PR/copy than there is to make fun of.

Sure, which the lunacy of their choices recently makes abundantly clear.

We know that Apple has been king of the PR/Media blitz for a while, the question we are looking at is are they going down the wrong road. I personally think the Mac announcements are good and the iPhone itself was fine. These iPods are definitely focusing on a different generation.

I certainly wish I could write copy like Apple and get the kind of traction they do.

Lee Clowe, Apple's former creative lead at Chiat Day, said advertising for Apple was always easy. You just need to show the product in action and people understood the benefits.

Such a strategy relies on an intent commitment to product design and UI. So when I see the copy, um, trying to hard it worries me that their prime dedication usability is being traded for features the market is demanding and they need copy to work harder.

It's an interesting balance for Apple. They might prefer to add features and abilities to products slowly, on boarding users at a comfortable pace so confusion never occurs. But as Android devices mature, they're needing to pack more capabilities in the device to not lose in initial, superficial comparisons.

I can't believe you guys forgot this:

Wow. Just wow.