“Steve Jobs built his reputation as an iconic marketer in the famous 1984 commercial for the MacIntosh [sic] computer in which Apple promises to take on ‘Big Brother’” Brian Brown, president of NOM, said in a statement released on NOM’s Web site. “Jobs has made billions taking on ‘Big Brother’ yet the irony is that in refusing to allow citizens to support pro-life and traditional marriage positions he’s become the very ‘Big Brother’ he has decried.”
The group further accuses Apple of allowing pro-gay marriage-related apps and apps from pro-choice groups like Planned Parenthood, while the company pulled The Manhattan Declaration app for violating Apple’s developer guidelines by “being offensive to large groups of people.”
In the video (below), the company includes footage from Apple’s 1984 commercial, and a voiceover narrative attacking Mr. Jobs and labelling him as the new Big Brother.
NOM Video
The Manhattan Declaration is the name for a document and the meeting itself of conservative Christian groups that call for an end to legal abortion and for preservation of what they deem to be “traditional marriage,” that of a union between men and women. The app included the text of that document, along with calls to action and a “survey” of four questions that was actually a test to see if you think correctly about the two issues in question.
Apple pulled the app after Change.org submitted a petition with more than 7,000 people asking Apple to remove the app, offering a rare comment at the time to PC Magazine that read: “We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people.”
As part of its newfound campaign against Mr. Jobs, NOM’s home page is all but dominated by images of the CEO, as you can see in the figure below.
NOM’s Home Page