Is a fake Steve Jobs 'angel' appropriate for an advertisement?

A Taiwanese tech company is being criticized for an advertisement featuring an actor dressed as an "angelic" Steve Jobs.

In a video advertisement for the Action Pad, Taiwanese comedian and impersonator Ah-Ken speaks at a mock press conference dressed in a black turtleneck and jeans, trademark garb of Apple Inc.'s late founder.

Ken's character is also wearing angel wings and a halo. Jobs died in October.

The video has been viewed almost 20,000 since it was posted on YouTube Monday. It also amassed more than 450 "dislike" votes compared to about 260 "like" votes.

 "Thank God I can finally play another pad," says Ken in the video, after pulling it out of his pocket and utilizing the tablet computer's touch screen.

The video doesn't mention Jobs, Apple or the iPad during the video, but it's impossible not to make comparisons - and it seems Action Entertainment, the Action Pad's manufacturer, doesn't shy away from this.

"Steve Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good," Chelsea Chen, a spokeswoman for Action Electronics, told Reuters.

The Action Pad runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, which Jobs considered to be of exceptionally poor quality, according to his biography. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this," Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson.

Is it appropriate to impersonate Steve Jobs - in angel gear, no less - in an advertisement? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section below.


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