While Apple had some impressive earnings today (this volatility play pre-earnings would have worked out nicely like it did last week for Google) given the current downturn slamming so many other stocks, Apple had the misfortune of falling prey to a PR gaffe on the same day. While this one will blow over quickly due to their rapid response and lack of resistance, this to me, is the epitome of poor judgment, a lack of adequate oversight/controls and a clear misstep from the company often viewed as above the fray and the white knight alternative to Microsoft's "evil empire".

As reported today here, Apple actually put up a a game on its iTunes store with a premise that by shaking the hell out of your phone, you can quiet a baby displayed on the screen. The name of the game is "Baby Shaker". Once one finishes shaking the device, the on-screen baby is shown with large red Xs over its eyes. This is just plain stupid. I realize that sometimes, you have Abercrombie & Fitch courting controversy by putting nude teenagers together in erotic poses or you have Britney Spears showing her vagina; these are "seemingly outrageous gaffes" by companies and celebrities that are actually meant to generate buzz, and in the long term, these seemingly outrageous publicity stunts actually result in an increase to the bottom line (and were planned ALL the way back).

This gaffe resulted in no such "coolness factor buzz" or the like. The company that created the game is just plain stupid. The person or group of people responsible for approving and hosting the game at Apple demonstrated a lack of judgment and brought embarrassment to their company. You mean to tell me that not one person that signed off on this said, "You know, this is really tasteless and frankly, it's not going to be a positive for our company - this is going to offend a lot of people and be a net negative for us"? Aren't there review, controls and approvals in place before something like this hits the iTunes store? Was there a single parent or adult even, that's seen what happens to infants on the local news? The death or permanent brain damage imparted to a child as a result of vigorous shaking is somehow humorous or hip? I get that these artsy designers want to be edgy or whatever. What they ended up with was a moronic backfire. What's next? Noose and holocaust games? I mean come on.

Like I said, I think that given the fact that they pulled it down immediately and didn't try to retroactively turn this into some sort of "cause" or marginalize the outrage from organizations and parents alike by ignoring their concerns, Apple will soon get a pass on this. It's not characteristic of their organization over the long term. However, they really need to rethink their process for vetting what's hip versus what's tasteless and avoid similar missteps in the future that may derail their reputation.


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