Apple Tightens Control on Use of Its Products for Promotional Giveaways
Thinking about offering an iPad 2 for your company’s next promotional giveaway? Think twice! You need to make yourself familiar with Apple’s Guidelines for Third Party Promotions before you get yourself into some trouble.
Companies looking for promotional items waste no time in offering the latest and greatest Apple products as soon as they hit store shelves. It’s the perfect way to attract customers and hopefully drum up some business. Contests for free iPhones, iPods and iPads are constantly popping up from popular websites to small businesses in your own home town. Well beware, because according to a report on Fortune, Apple has started to enforce the guidelines it has laid out regarding the use of its products for contests and giveaways.
Following are just some of the guidelines included in the two-page document outlining Apple’s rules:
- iPad, iPhone and the iPhone Gift Card may not be used in third-party promotions.
- iPod touch is only allowed to be used in special circumstances and requires a minimum purchase of 250 units.
- The use of “free” as a modifier in any Apple product reference in a prominent manner (headlines, call- outs, etc.) is prohibited.
- You must submit all marketing materials related to the promotion of Apple products to Apple for review.
- You may NOT use the Myriad Set font on or in connection with web sites, products, packaging, manuals, or promotional/advertising materials.
- Please include the following statement at the end of Apple legal language: “Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.”
This rules included in the Guidelines for Third Party Promotions document have reportedly been around since January, but it appears Apple has only recently started to enforce them. I blogged about the significant number of iPad contests in one of my posts last fall and was completely unaware of any guidelines. Based on the number of contests past and present, it looks like plenty of others find themselves without a firm grasp of the rules as well. I found dozens of contests just today by googling “iPad 2 contest giveaway” and some of them were from well-known, reputable sites. It will definitely be interesting to see whether there is a decline in the number of contests offering up Apple products in the future.
