Pepsi and iTunes Commentary
As most people know, Pepsi and iTunes have teamed up and are giving away 100 million free song downloads from the iTunes music service.
The advertisement features a 14-year old girl who says she is “one of the kids prosecuted for downloading music free off of the internet.” She goes on to say that she is “still going to download music free off of the internet”… but only if she drinks Pepsi and gets a winning game peice (1 in 3 is a winner). But I generally cannot make it to that part in the commercial without being blinded by rage at the lie that was just told. No kid was prosecuted for downloading music. Not one. The RIAA isn’t reporting people to the law, they are using their legal prowess to sue kids and bully them into paying up thousands of dollars. That’ll teach ‘em… or ensure that they’ll never buy a CD again.
What makes it even worse, is that the girl in the commercial isn’t just an actor, she is April Leith, who was bullied into paying the RIAA $3,000 for downloading 960 songs over a three year period (according to ShortNews.com). So not only was she sued, rather than prosecuted, but she was paid to say that she had been charged with a crime. I find that blatantly dishonest on the part of Apple, and it really shows how much in bed they are with the RIAA.
On a more humorous note, people have “discovered” a “hack” that allows you to tell if a Pepsi bottle is going to yeild a free tune. Read how at MacMerc.com.
