Originally published at: Scarlett sues over AI ad
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Well Scarlett Johansson impersonated an AI in the movie Her so turnabout is fair play. [/s]
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In the first quarter of 2022 Twitter was still publicly held. Apple was indeed advertising on the platform.
However, the @apple account hasn’t posted anything since Skum started inviting racists back onto their platform a year ago. At that time Apple deleted all their existing posts, and just left the account in place to prevent anyone from squatting it. They are also paying for the golden checkmark as a placeholder to prevent someone from typosquatting handles like @appl3 or @app1e and claiming to be the real Apple Inc.
I doubt very much that they’re spending any money on the platform other than the bare minimum to keep that identity alive.
They certainly aren’t a “double digit” advertiser.
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Just because they aren’t posting anything under their handle anymore doesn’t mean they aren’t paying for ads that appear on the platform. I don’t know what the current numbers are but Apple was still one of the top advertisers on Twitter as of Summer 2023, well after Musk bought the company.
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That Axios article was short on facts. In it they claimed:
but offered no citations to back up that assertion, and later stated
And while I spend almost no time on Twitter (except to occasionally follow a thread from BB or elsewhere) it’s been a long time since I saw an Apple ad on it.
Your stated assumption that Apple isn’t a major advertiser on Twitter since Musk’s takeover just because their own Twitter account has been dormant is still a stretch though.
Musk was publicly thanking Apple for remaining one of their top advertisers last Spring. And they’ve continued to pay for stuff like this:
I don’t doubt that they’re spending a lot less than they used to but clearly they’re still spending a non-trivial amount. Given how most of the other major advertisers have fled entirely I have no problem believing Apple is one of the biggest advertisers left.
ETA: Here’s another piece published last month about how Apple continues to spend money advertising on Twitter/X despite Tim Cook’s milquetoast statement about how “there’s some things he doesn’t like” about what’s been happening to the platform.
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Companies have been trying stuff like this for a long time. Tom Waits won two lawsuits after companies in Norway and Spain tried to license his music for advertisements. When he refused, they hired sound-alike singers to imitate his style. He successfully sued them. Waits Wins Legal Battle Over Sound-Alike TV Ad – Billboard
But AI seems to have lowered the bar to entry. You don’t have to hire expensive talent to imitate a superstar, you can just do it in an app. That makes it available to sketchy scams, not just companies with deep pockets. That in turn makes suing someone and recovering damages harder for the victims whose reputations get tarnished by the association.
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On a related note, crypto grifters know which celebrity won’t complain about his image being used to hawk shitcoins on Xitter.
@beschizza 's first link takes me to a site showing a photo of SJ… but check out the caption:
Even SJ’s attorney is appropriating her image!
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The big question is: Why push an AI image/video generator app on to the general public? Advertising is supposed to generate money/sales. Are they hoping for lots of novelty purchases?
I mean… cut . to. the. chase. This is so Harry Palmer can sit in front of his computer and create AI porn.
Oh, and the next ad is for a 3D latex printer you say?
If you are an IP holder this should give you chills, the videos will get circulated and good luck closing the barn door after the fact. The NEWd adventures of Minnie Mouse … ohhh boyyyyy.
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Just in case we forgot what the actors are looking for by striking. It’s this.
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Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life watching it get passed around like a hot moldy potato. Never too late to get folded into Aol/yahoo/oath like soup.
I wonder if the branding/IP for “twitter” could get cleaved off “X” and continue to live its best life (while all of the letter X takes on a role not unlike 4 in East Asia).
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I’m picturing the scenes in the studio that day.
“No, not there yet. Keep smoking!”
“Gargle more kerosene.”
etc.
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“Kerosene’s not workin’ right. Hand me that bottle of Four Roses, wouldja?”
ETA:
My late friend and crush Kegger developed an immediate crush on me when I sang a Tom Waits medley on the patio of the bar he managed. My pal Chris and I found out none of the folks we were speaking with were hip to Mr Waits, just as Kegger came outside. I proceeded to enlighten by regaling them with bits of Telephone Call From Istanbul, Step Right Up, Pasties and a G-String [“…and I’m gettin’ harder’n Chinese algebraaa…”]… It doesn’t appear possible, but I do a more than passable Waits impression, raggedy AF. 
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Beautiful.
ETA: among my friends, we’d introduce the uninitiated to Tom Waits by singing the barroom version of Innocent When You Dream.
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Thanks for sending me off on that tangent.
I’d no idea tetraphobia was a thing in the East.
Now I’m down a rabbit-hole of Eastern superstitions.
(Off-topic, but there you go).
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The color blue is also viewed as unlucky in some parts of Asia.
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This thread is reminding me that this movie is still on my to-be-seen list.
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