Tasteless TV: Fake Jobs sells Android tablet in Taiwan
by Steven Mostyn - Feb 6 2012, 06:15
Image: YouTube.
If you’re wondering ‘how soon is too soon’ to be making tasteless gags about the death of Steve Jobs, we here at The Tech Herald think there’s still some way to go before the loss of Apple’s CEO can be linked with humor of any sort. But hey, that’s just us.
Evidently not everyone shares our viewpoint. Take, for example, Taiwanese device maker Action Electronics, which is currently using comedian Ah-Ken to impersonate Jobs in a TV commercial that depicts the industry visionary as a dedicated fan of its Android-powered tablet.
Beyond being dressed in the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and sneakers combo Jobs was synonymous with, Ah-Ken’s energetic Jobs is shown enjoying the ‘Action Pad’ on a typical keynote stage, while sporting angel wings and a glowing halo.
Although the visual recreation is questionable enough, it’s more likely that Jobs himself would take exception to Ah-Ken adoringly interacting with Action’s latest offering—not least because Jobs never hid his disdain for Google’s mobile operating system while alive.
“Introducing the new generation of the pad. It’s amazing,” says the mimicking funnyman during the commercial, “Thank God! I can play another pad.”
It’s worth noting that Jobs, during Walter Isaacson’s recently published authorized biography, openly labeled devices powered by Google Android as “shit”.
Speaking with Reuters, Action Electronics has attempted to defend its commercial by claiming: “Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good.”
Given that Apple recently moved to prevent the sale of a Steve Jobs action figure, we would not be at all surprised it its pack of legal hounds are already snarling ominously in Action Electronics’ direction—and the following commercial will soon disappear for good as a result.
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