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A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

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Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#121

Post by dools »

Whenever someone starts using Apple as an example of how we can all do better at marketing our startups I cringe.

And yet I obviously have so much to learn.

When tasked with creating a fake conversation for my own telecommunications app BenkoPhone whose primary point of difference is the ability to send and receive picture messages, I created a conversation that goes like this[0]:

[Contact Name: My Colleague]

Inbound message: [PHOTO OF KITTEN] Check out this cute kitten!

Outbound reply: That’s adorable now GET BACK TO WORK!!

Now I’m rethinking my whole strategy.

[0] https://apps.apple.com/au/app/benkophone/id1588846472

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#122

Post by Pomfers »

cainxinth wrote: post #116
stephc_int13 wrote: post #112

As a rule of thumb, the apparent politeness of the language is inversely proportional to the potential violence of the culture it comes from.

Can you give some examples, because I’m not sure that’s true. Modern Japan is famously polite and their crime rates are quite low. Likewise, I grew up in a Quaker community that is exceptionally polite and nonviolent.

I think they'd agree with that example. If we take their quote and invert it:

> apparent politeness of the language is inversely proportional to the potential violence of the culture

=> apparent politeness of language directly proportional to the peacefulness of the culture

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#123

Post by mproud »

The people who make these marketing materials often use people’s names they know of, and sometimes employ inside jokes, or more common ones even.

Apple had a page for an iOS release one year explaining new calendar features. On the page I saw a calendar event for name of a guy I personally knew who worked at Apple! It was a dentist appointment at 2:30.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#125

Post by throwawaaarrgh »

dools wrote: post #118
cainxinth wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples, because I’m not sure that’s true. Modern Japan is famously polite and their crime rates are quite low. Likewise, I grew up in a Quaker community that is exceptionally polite and nonviolent.

Japan may not be the best example. Their history of politeness extends from the extreme violence of the samurai era.

Up through the age when they nearly took over the Pacific and their wartime tactics were known for brutality

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#126

Post by dylan604 »

Nition wrote: post #72

This doesn't even delve into the hidden deceit! In the first image, the sender says they went camping in the mountains, but then sends a photo of the seaside. Did they really go camping at all? In the soapbox derby image, the sender claims they "just finished the latest renderings" for the sushi car design, yet the design is clearly AI generated! They've been lying to the team about how they're creating the designs.…

>yet the design is clearly AI generated! They've been lying to the team about how they're creating the designs.

if the sender is the one tweaking the prompts for the AI to render, then why would they not be correct in saying they are finished with it. you sound like one of those that think any use of AI imagery is wrong.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#127

Post by mikestew »

qingcharles wrote: post #73
lxgr wrote: post #28

No article about Apple's staged sample content can be complete without at least an honorable mention of the Raccoon Basement Incident: https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-displays-weird-message...

Are wild racoons that friendly? There is one living in my attic and I've seen racoon claws, so I'm not tempted to try and spook it.

Two days late on the reply, but in case there's any question of the friendliness of raccoons, no, they don't like you and they will fuck you up. If your dog gets hold of one, it's a trip to the vet for stitches. If you have one in your house, and you live in the U. S., I believe you want to call your state's Fish and Wildlife department or Department of Natural Resources, or summat.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#128

Post by positr0n »

jalict wrote: post #24
bluedays wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m disturbed that you have a lot of bathroom pics in your texts

Random bathroom selfie seems pretty standard.

In what context? From or to multiple people? I don't think I've ever sent or received a bathroom selfie.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#129

Post by user3939382 »

tptacek wrote: post #23

This is very funny, but it's also disquieting, because people who text like this absolutely do exist; I know because I'm on the list for the block I live on. Modulo a lack of spelling and grammar errors, this is what normal people sound like. The idea that very normal people behavior is this odd or telling is, itself, pretty telling!

Never in my life heard someone use the word “modulo” like this. An older or more formal style would use the word “save” here, or more commonly “except for”

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#130

Post by tobr »

ajmoo wrote: post #105
tobr wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rebuilt screenshots for content swaps and hi-res output Can you explain this work in more detail? Are you basically reconstructing the contents of a screenshot in vector graphics so it can be translated/edited/scaled up but still look correct?

Yep! I worked there from 2007-2012, and at the time we used Photoshop, which on the surface sounds counter-intuitive (being a primarily raster-based program.) We would take screenshots of product (or get screenshots from HI if we weren't allowed access), and would redraw everything in Photoshop at a minimum of 288ppi (4x) using vector shapes and type layers, lots of nested smart objects, and layer effects (back in th…

This is an awesome answer, thank you!

> mine appears once

Hm! Do you like rock climbing? ;)

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