AT&T has their fair share of stupid commercials, but their not the only ones, and this time Verizon has them beat. So much so that AT&T has filed a lawsuit against them. No, not because AT&T has stupid commercials trademarked, but because they say the recent "There's a map for that" ad by Verizon are misleading about AT&T coverage compared to Verizon's.   In case you haven't seen the ad, here is the first one they ran:



The ad plays off the popular iPhone "there's an app for that" commercials. AT&T is the exclusive service provider for iPhones.


Here's the problem:

While the map clearly states it's showing 3G coverage, there are some "fine print" details AT&T feels need to be mentioned as well:

- AT&T customers can still use their phones for voice and data just fine outside of the areas colored in blue on the map because AT&T has a large data network. The map of which takes the steam out of their comparison.

- Verizon does not have anything besides their 3G network, so the bare spots on their map are spots where your phone won't work at all.


Are these details really lawsuit worthy? AT&T thinks they are, but for customers I guess it depends on where you live. People in the Metro Detroit area aren't likely to be effected by it one way or the other, but strangely enough there are parts of Texas where AT&T offers 3G and Verizon doesn't have coverage at all.  Details, details. Of course, Verizon was trying to make a dig at iPhones prior to the release of the Droid phone, and the ad would not have as much impact if it showed maps comparing total coverage areas.

Nevertheless the ad has already been changed with footnotes reflecting that voice and data are available outside of the blue areas on the AT&T map. Odds are the ads won't be around much longer anyway. The Droid phone comes out tomorrow and Verizon is already touting it as the iPhone killer, so I would expect to see these ads replaced by adds comparing the phones themselves in the near future.

For what it's worth, I've always felt marketing products as the killer of another wildly popular product is a bad idea. Verizon may want to compare maps now but they're certainly not going to be calling a lot of attention to their apps. While they claim the Droid will have about 10,000 apps available at launch, the iPhone currently runs 96,845 apps, a number that almost doubled in the last 4 months and is showing no signs of slowing. So, while the Droid is getting good reviews so far, Verizon has lot of ground to make up before they can start really touting the killer status of their new product line.

I hate bad commercials. I'm sure a lot of people do. With all the different ways we're bombarded with advertising nowadays, it's easy to ignore a lot of it as it gets blurred together in background noise. But occasionally one will stand out to me, not because it makes me want to buy whatever product it's selling, but because for one reason or another its absurdity didn't stop it from being published. When I hear/see one of these ads, I can't help but think "How can something like this get made without a single person saying 'hey this seems like a bad idea' in a focus group or meeting?"

The latest one I've heard is a radio ad for Coca-Cola. The ad features a man typing a letter which he is reading aloud as he goes. Right from the first line, the commercial made me groan. "Dear inventor of Coca-Cola... are you like a taste guru or something?"

He goes on to list reasons he loves Coke and stuff it goes well with... all the while flattering the nameless inventor with questions about how brilliant he is.

So we're supposed to believe this guy is actually planning to send this letter or e-mail to someone because he genuinely wants to know if the inventor of coca-cola is some kind of taste guru, but he isn't smart enough to use the computer he is typing on to do a quick Google search. You'd think if someone is taking the time to write fan mail fawning over someone, they'd bother to learn their name.

Along the way he probably would have learned that John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, died 121 years ago, so he probably doesn't have an e-mail address. He didn't design Coca-Cola to go well with burgers and ice cream either, he made an alcoholic drink for medicinal purposes the previous year (1886) and then prohibition forced him to change the formula. Rather than market Coca-Cola as something that goes great with all kinds of food, the drink was sold as a cure for morphine addiction, something Pemberton himself was supposedly struggling with.

The ad seems harmless enough, and really it is, but it's annoying to see Coca-Cola create an ad where a nameless person puts a ridiculously flattering spin on Coke's origins while at the same time ignoring details like the inventor's name. Believe me I'm not going to lose sleep over these types of ads, but everyone has their pet peeves and I enjoy venting about mine.