Worth complaining to BBC? (Apple Promotion)

Soldato
Joined
8 Mar 2007
Posts
10,938
I normally can't stand idiots who complain to TV Stations for petty reasons but I feel close to doing it myself.

I am annoyed that the BBC provide free advertising to Apple by using their brand names as synonyms for technology when neutral (and more accurate descriptions) would be better for a channel that is supposed to be independent and unbiased.

I frequently hear BBC News anchors use terms like "iPod", "iPhone" and "iPad" to describe MP3 players, Smartphones and Tablets. I'm not talking about stories specifically about those products but using them as synonyms for the latter generally.

For example a while ago a news reporter was asking a political correspondent whether "MPs should be allowed to use their iPhones when in parliament" and this morning on a fly-on-wall cop show they narrator said "Schools have become a target for thieves due to them investing in new lap tops and iPads".

If a guest on a BBC one show mentions something like Kellogs Cornflakes in a sentence the presenter is always quick to cut in with the cliche "..other cereals are available" yet I've never heard them do the same when an Apple brand name in mentioned in conversation.

Now of course you could cite examples like 'biro' being used as synonym for ball-point pen but that is something that has been in our vocabulary for so long it's too late to correct it.

I know it's petty and I'll be accused of being whatever the opposite of an Apple fanboi is but I don't feel they treat all brand names the same which they should for a so-called unbiased broadcaster.
 
Last edited:
I know it's petty and I'll be accused of being whatever the opposite of an Apple fanboi is but I don't feel they treat all brand names the same which they should for a so-called unbiased broadcaster.
What was the response when you raised this with the BBC?
 
You should wirte a long detailed letter of your concerns a cite sepcific details, dates, times and the products concerned over a period of time, just to make you r point.

Or just move on and not care - kinda your call really.
 
Watch BBC Click and you'll realise how Apple is the standard they measure / compare any new tech to. At times I wonder, if they get some kick back for every time Apple / i-something was mentioned.

/A neutral user
 
The BBC should not be taken much notice of when it comes to technology, unfortunately due to its position it does influence.

I agree with you in principal, but honestly they won't give a damn.
 
this morning on a fly-on-wall cop show they narrator said "Schools have become a target for thieves due to them investing in new lap tops and iPads".

But this is correct though, schools are having IT suites done out with Apple gear.

Are you just mad because it's not all Android, Android, Android?

Seriously who gives a crap. You've got nutters in ISIS chopping heads off, and this gets your jimmies rustled?

Have a word with yourself.
 
BBC ia getting worse and worse.

There article on 10days left to buy a powerful vacuum cleaner is daily mail like. Virtually no mention that aim companies just put bigger and bigger motors in to sale, with no test for fusty pick up and storage.
 
Surely life is too short for this even with recent advances in medical technology?

Recent history is littered with examples of brand names becoming the generic term, in fact it often hurts the original brand by diluting the perception of what their product actually is.

EG Hoover as one small example. Once everything was a hoover you didn't need a hoover.

Plus the BBC have something of a responsibility to speak in terms people understand and as things like the iPad are the market leader I suspect it's a mixture of wanting to use easily understood terminology and reporters being arguably slightly sloppy but also using these names as colloquialisms rather than an endorsement.
 
But this is correct though, schools are having IT suites done out with Apple gear.

Which is fine but there's no reason not to just say 'tablets' and leave who the supplier is out all together. They said 'laptop' afterall and not 'Asus' (or whoever they are using for them.

Are you just mad because it's not all Android, Android, Android?

Not at all. If they kept using that brand name unfairly I'd be just as annoyed.

Seriously who gives a crap. You've got nutters in ISIS chopping heads off, and this gets your jimmies rustled?

Have a word with yourself.

Right so because there are more serious issues, everything else in life has to be put on hold? Do I take it in the last month you've not got angry or annoyed by literally anything (or in fact in your life) due to the fact there are people suffering more somewhere?
 
Plus the BBC have something of a responsibility to speak in terms people understand and as things like the iPad are the market leader I suspect it's a mixture of wanting to use easily understood terminology and reporters being arguably slightly sloppy but also using these names as colloquialisms rather than an endorsement.

Indeed, when I had a Nexus 7, many older people I knew saw it and said

Oh is that an iPad?

No it's an Android tablet.

Oh what is the difference?

Well, for a start, it is running different hardware, and has a different operating sys-

Operating what?

Okay yes it is similar to an iPad, but the icons look different

Icons?

Fine yes I have an iPad.
 
Back
Top Bottom