It know it's one of those irrational "the things you can't say on TV are the things you can't say on TV" kind of situations, but sexual innuendo and financial software don't mesh.
As an aside, the devil thing isn't isolated to non-Western countries either. Linda Branagan famously recalls one instance of where the BSD "Daemon" mascot, which also looks devil-like, nearly got her into real trouble in Texas: http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html
Me: ``Oh, well, see, this isn't really the devil, it's just, well, it's sort of a mascot.''
Native: ``And what kind of football team has the devil as a mascot?''
I call BS.
College mascots that are devils, off the top of my head: - Duke Blue Devils - Arizona Sun Devils - Dusty, from a branch of Texas A&M
All of which have been there for decades.. and since Duke and Arizona are regular NCAA champion contenders, it wouldn't be a surprise.
On the other hand, our newspapers regularly publish raunchier content without much fanfare.
It's a fascinating place really.
Who goes to concerts? Younger people. Who reads newspapers? Older people.
The result is that Malaysia has a large enough non-Muslim population to avoid becoming a full-blown theocracy like Saudi Arabia, but still have a large enough religious base to be considered a 'conservative' country.
Yes, god forbid they do it because they know any better, because of experience and such...
Check your theory again in 20 years.
The government was pissed, and considering legislation because the fact the app was not allowed was considered to be offensive. The app is allowed now, as an 18+ app.
And honestly, thats what we should do. Sue, legislate and full out war of the whole concept of these kind of policies. Stores playing culture police sounds like part of a dysotopian nightmare.
And the rules are so so so American. Sex is bad. Violence is good. Lying about products is allowed, but oh dear if kids get to see a niple.
The weird thing is, i doubt Apple realizes just how offensive their guidelines are themselves. Ah well, thell have their day in court.
So what you are saying is that if it's not offensive to you then clearly everyone else is wrong?
edit: i'm trying to explain what about it offends me. I guess that it's making assumptions about my sexuality which is pretty personal, or making light of my sexuality which is pretty important.
But in a finance app? Not okay. If I'm trusting this company's app to manage my finances, they should show a professional level of distance and respect, and not have some robot joking about my sex life. It's personal, it's potentially insulting, and it's in a context where this kind of subject should be left alone.
And that's saying nothing of the fact that in countries like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Qatar, people are probably not anywhere near as open about sexuality as we are in the United States and Europe. If you want to market a product in those countries you should respect that.
They should. But here's the problem: the subset of things that offend any country in the world, is the superset.
And the cultural and moral values applied, are not 'international'. They are extremely American. And some of the things it outlaws, may be a crucial part of the identity of another culture.
There are cultures that consider females not wearing a headscarf, to be offensive. There are cultures that treat blood (even in cartoon form) like the US would treat a nipple, like Germany. There are cultures, that will be offended, just because the store is open on Sunday.
I live in Holland. We consider Apple's App Store to represent Christian fundamentalism. That's how we call that set of moral values.
Apple risks getting sued for discimination and 'promoting hate', by publishing those guidelines. I wonder what they'll do, when they see that reaction.
However, if that's the case, the review team should point that out, specifically.
@
Compete