Apple has been told it cannot continue to claim its new G5 Mac is the "world's fastest, most powerful personal computer" on British TV screens. The British television regulator, the ITC, has ruled against Apple today after eight viewers complained Apple could not stand up its claim, made in a recent campaign to promote its top-end range of computers.
An unnamed British Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) expert "found that the claim was not supported by independent reviews and that at best 'the G5 was generally as fast as the best Intel-based workstations currently available'."
The ruling revealed the BACC had already raised concerns about the ad, before it was shown on British screens. Apple had provided information to allay those concerns, and the campaign went ahead. But further testing showed there was insufficient evidence for Apple's speed and power boast.
The judgement concluded: "The ITC considered that there was insufficient evidence to support the claim 'world's fastest, most powerful personal computer'. Furthermore, it shared one viewer's doubt that the claim could be substantiated at all because, as evidence for and against the claim had shown, computers were constantly being updated and had many different applications and benchmarks. It reminded the BACC of the importance to obtain solid evidence for such absolute claims. It judged that the advertising was misleading and required that it should not be re-shown in its current form."
Apple said tonight it was waiting to study the full report before commenting.
