http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/ Switched Comments for The BlackBerry Storm Ad That Might Have Been http://www.switched.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.switched.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 6:42PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 2:25PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 7:19PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 7:31PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 9:01PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/
But it should indicate (again) that companies are afraid of being called names, but behind the threat is the real threat of being sued and thereby losing lots of money in legal fees to defend the charges.

This is liberalism : "I will use name calling and implied or real threat of lawsuits to silence you because I know better than you what you 'should' be including in your advertisements fo a Blackberry device".

]]>Feb 28th 2009 7:38PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/
Nobody at Blackberry is afraid of being sued. Anybody who has had a whiff of media law training, as any major company's general counsel and said company's outside lawyers have, could tell the good folks at Blackberry there's no potential lawsuit here. The ad makes no claims about their competitor's product or company, ergo there can be no accusation of willfully false or misleading claims. They only infer that their product is far better. If anyone at Blackberry needed a legal opinion on this, there it is (said the guy who not only is the husband of a general counsel, but also learned his media law from the professor who, literally, wrote the book on media law.)

No, the ad probably got rejected for the same reason many similar ads get rejected. Unless they're trying to dent an iconic juggernaut -- Burger King vs. McDonalds, Pepsi vs. Coke -- or are absolutely sure they have the better product, companies tend to get nervous about ads that can be taken as an overt, white-glove slap at the competition. Better to play it safe and just promote your own product, execs feel, than start a potential ad war that can quickly find you on the backpedal.

Also, some exec could be a huge anti-gun, anti-violence type who doesn't want the company associated with the "bullet" imagery. That's certainly happened often enough in U.S. businesses over the last 20 years.

This is a great commercial and similar in spirit to Apple's legendary "1984" ad. I can see, however, why the Blackberry folks chose not to go that route if they were thinking, "Hey, let's make sure we get the bugs out of our stuff first before we get up in Apple's face."]]>Mar 1st 2009 1:41AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 8:08PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Feb 28th 2009 9:23PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 2:49PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Run the dad blasted commercial!]]>Mar 1st 2009 2:07PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/- Get a pair. John]]>Mar 1st 2009 2:20PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/I agree John, this is a GREAT spot! Maybe even CLIO worthy...
Bring it on!]]>Mar 2nd 2009 7:21AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/THATS GREAT.
WISH I THOUGHT OF IT.]]>Mar 1st 2009 2:39PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 2:39PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 2:51PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 7th 2009 12:27AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 4:47PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 3:20PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/http://www.switched.com/2009/02/27/the-blackberry-storm-ad-that-might-have-been/Mar 1st 2009 3:22PM