Palm Computing has set off a backlash against its "Simply Palm" marketing campaign for its new Palm V and Palm IIIx handheld organizers. Critics are voicing their opposition and dismay saying the ads are simply pornography. And that Palm is simply reverting to the good-old-boy-club mentality that "sex sells."
The "Simply Palm" ad campaign, launched in March, has several ads featuring a naked woman holding a Palm V device. According to Palm, the ads were intended to highlight the new sleek design of the Palm V by visually evoking parallels between the beauty and line of the female body and their product. Critics, however, say it is simply a blatant attempt to use sex to sell Palm's handheld devices, calling it pornography and taking their grievance to the Internet.
Some who have seen the ads thought they were simply silly. Jason Kottke was one of those critics, saying, "I just thought the ads were kind of goofy." Adding that he thought "it came across very clumsy, and ended up being: Sex sells." Kottke posted parodies of Palm's ads online, featuring naked women in suggestive poses with strategically placed Palm devices, with the tag line "Simply Porn."
Palm's legal department contacted Kottke March 31 and told him, "It's an infringement of our trademark." Although Kottke has since removed the parodies from his site, parodies can still be found on "mirror" websites.
One such site is www.dumbentia.com which displays a fake ad for the Napalm Pilot. "I believe [Kottke's "Simply Porn"] is pure parody, and qualifies as protected speech. [Kottke], by taking the Palm ads a little step further, demonstrates the foolishness, on many levels, of the original ads," said the site owner.
In an editorial written for Maxi Magazine, Owen Thomas said, "Simply Palm? Simply dumb--and unlikely to help Palm move its heavily male-user base to a broader demographic."
Palm doesn't plan to pull their sexy ads.
