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About

iPod Advertisement Spoofs first appeared late 2003 (Something Awful’s iPod ads) but rose in popularity around mid-2004.

The creation of the iPod spoofs was the result of the fame of the original silhouette videos and posters.

They featured all the elements of an ordinary iPod silhouette commercial or iPod silhouette print advertisement but instead of using ambiguous dancers, these videos and pictures had a recognizable character’s/several recognizable characters’ silhouette/s listening to music on the iPod.

Usually, the word “iPod” is parodied with a different word which relates to the character/s used in the picture or video. The format used is “iX”, with X being the related word. Examples of this rewording are “iTrap”, “iPity”, “iAye”, “iRan”, “iLost”, etc.

Witty sentences or phrases are also often used in these parodies to add more humor to the spoof.

Origin

Apple Incorporated, the multinational corporation, has used a variety of distinctive advertising campaigns to promote their iPod digital media player, the most famous being commercials and print advertising using silhouetted characters (usually dancing) in front of a single-colored bright background listening to music with an iPod. The first time they appeared was September of 2003 in the form of posters, as stated by Chaosmint.com.

Videos first appeared around October of 2003 but the first video to become popular using this idea was accompanied by the Black Eyed Peas song, Hey Mama, and debuted November of 2003:

The last Apple commercial in this format aired on May 2008 featuring Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. It is obvious, at this point, that the commercial has undergone a number of stylistic changes:

iPod Banner/Poster Parodies on the Web

Somethingawful.com was among the first contributors of this meme on the internet with their Parodied iPod Ads on September 15, 2003. These ads were in the form of banners instead of posters, those of which followed soon afterward (see images below).

Poster spoofs first started appearing on the net on a site called Netfirms.com. The owner of the site, George Chen, states he created the parodies because it was fun.

In my opinion, one of the most ingenious ad campaigns ever produced is the Apple iPod’s current campaign. It’s incredibly simple, yet it’s bright colors and key product placement get it’s message across. It’s also incredibly fun to parody.

These are some posters of his making:

iPod Commercial Spoofs

The first ever spoof video can be found on a site called Macboy.com, posted on November 25, 2003. It features the silhouette of Steve Ballmer, the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, dancing to the song Get On Your Feet by Gloria Estefan.

The creator, a person who calls himself Macboy, states jokingly that he made the video because he wanted Apple to give him a free iPod:

This is my second Apple iPod ad parody, and Apple still has not sent me a free iPod to stop the insanity!

  • Macboy’s first iPod parody video can be found here.
  • This iPod parody’s production notes can be found here.

On June 23, 2006, an iPod commercial spoof competition was held by AudioBooksForFree.com. More than two million videos were entered for the competition. The competition ended on December 20, 2006.

The winner was a Youtube user named David Schilling, AKA schillid, with his video entitled “Two Apples” featuring some stock footage of the Beatles accompanied by their song, “Revolution”. This video was rated highest with 3.46 stars:

Reference Site:

Here are some more parody videos from the competition which can also be found on Youtube:

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22 Comments

Frketson
Sep 17, 2009 at 11:05PM UTC , Frketson wrote:

As usual Jostin, well played.

Xmas Anti Jamie
Sep 18, 2009 at 03:11AM UTC , Xmas Anti Jamie wrote:

.ebyam,yffi adniK
.emem lri a fo eroM

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 18, 2009 at 03:18AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

@ eimaJ (see what I did there?)

I have to agree that it’s IRL-ish, but since the Kanye Interrupts meme exploded, admins have been rethinking about what they would consider an Internet Meme.

Here’s an excerpt of a small conversation about this meme that me, Chris Menning, and a few other people had. Chris states:

I know in the past I’ve always asserted that if something became popular as a result of the Internet, then it’s not an Internet Meme.

But because of the recent Kanye Interruption meme, we’ve all been reconsidering how we qualify an Internet Meme. I don’t think whether or not something was mainstream-sourced should play any role in analyzing a meme as long as there is a good amount of real, user-created content that is transormative in nature.

So with that said, iPod spoofs are absolutely an internet meme worth documenting. Feel free to start an entry on it.

With that said, permission was granted and entry was made.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 18, 2009 at 04:09AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

Okay, is there something I haven’t covered yet or is it all good?

Taryn
Sep 19, 2009 at 01:00AM UTC , Taryn wrote:

Jostin, just because Kanye was popular, still doesn’t mean IRL memes are actual Internet memes.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 19, 2009 at 01:10AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

Tell that to Chris. He’s the one who gave me the thumbs up to make the article. Read it here: http://knowyourmeme.com/forums/1-general/topics/471-ipod-ad-spoofs

Chris Menning
Sep 19, 2009 at 01:16AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Hey, I’m not infallible. If people are calling it into question then let’s hear them out.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 19, 2009 at 01:20AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

@ Chris

Sorry ‘bout using you, but you’re just the best excuse for this.

BTW, am I missing anything for this article or am I doing this article wrong? I feel there’s just something not included or right about the article.

Chris Menning
Sep 19, 2009 at 03:00PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

I kind of doubt that Family Guy is what brought iPod commercial parodies to the mainstream. If memory serves, I think there were plenty of other mainstream parodies happening at the same time as the internet-based ones.

I mean, the iPod is arguably one of the fastsest growing cultural units ever. It made a huge impact.

In 2004, FuseTV already made a parody of the iPod ad campaign to use as their own ad campaign.
http://adland.tv/content/fuse-parodies-two-campaigns-one-gets-apple-phone

If I were you I would rewrite this from the perspective that the iPod ads made such a big impact that individuals and advertisers alike created parodies. It’s definitely mainstream-derived but that’s better than mainstream sourced. It’s not like Apple went out and asked people to create spoofs. At least, not that I’m aware of.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 19, 2009 at 03:44PM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

THANK YOU, Chris! I’ve been looking for even the slightest info about that FuseTV spoofing everywhere. All the articles I’ve come across have only mentioned it but haven’t actually talked about it so I had nothing for it. I praise your searching skills.

I’m going to fix up this article now.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 19, 2009 at 05:38PM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

Does anyone have any info about the Apple-Fuse lawsuit other than what I already have on here? It seems that there is no other further information regarding it other than what I’ve found.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 20, 2009 at 12:52AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

Article’s fixed. Is there anything I’m still missing or is the article good to confirm now?

Jack Smack
Sep 20, 2009 at 04:51PM UTC , Jack Smack wrote:

Awesome, if I could, I would confirm this.

Tomberry
Sep 20, 2009 at 05:27PM UTC , Tomberry wrote:

So much spoofs, so much win !

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 20, 2009 at 08:19PM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

@ Jack and Tomberry

Thanks guys.

@ Taryn

Okay, I won’t use Chris as an excuse anymore. This meme definitely started on the internet before it became mainstream IRL. The videos came out before the posters and the videos were first shared on the internet. This is a definite internet meme.

Taryn
Sep 21, 2009 at 12:28AM UTC , Taryn wrote:

So many LIES.
I am disappoint.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 21, 2009 at 12:35AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

@ Taryn

Kindly explain please.

Jostin Asuncion
Sep 24, 2009 at 05:30AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

WHAT IN THE WORLD?!! Where did all my research go?! DAMMIT I have to redo the article! Was KYM haxed or something?

Jostin Asuncion
Oct 14, 2009 at 01:48AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

Article updated.

Jostin Asuncion
Nov 20, 2009 at 02:46AM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

I have no comment. Fellow researchers, you comment.

Steven R.
Nov 20, 2009 at 10:35PM UTC , Steven R. wrote:

+1 confirm

Biotic Zombie
Jan 31, 2010 at 11:53PM UTC , Biotic Zombie wrote:

1+ Confirm

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