AT&T takes Verizon to Court over "There is a Map for That" Commercial

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

By now you have probably seen the “There’s a Map for That” commercial by Verizon which closely mimics the style of the familiar “There is an App for that” Apple iPhone commercials. The content of Verizon’s ad is surprisingly cynical and hostile toward AT&T and Apple, starting an all-out-war with its top rivals.

AT&T is not just going to stand around while Verizon attacks AT&T where it hurts the most: 3G coverage and its reliability. AT&T has taken Verizon to court. In Atlanta, AT&T filed a suit with the federal court to block Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” commercial from airing. AT&T states that the commercial misleads consumers into thinking that AT&T has no wireless coverage at all in most parts of USA. Indeed, in the commercial, AT&T’s coverage map has a lot of white spaces on the map of United States. AT&T did a survey that reports 53 percent of those asked believed the white areas to be total gaps in wireless coverage. But the white spaces are just areas where AT&T does not have 3G coverage. Edge is still available in most parts of the country. AT&T is using this survey and others as primary reasons to have the comparative maps removed from the commercial.

Before the lawsuit, AT&T had already tried to negotiate with Verizon on the “There is a Map for that” ad. Verizon responded by adding “Voice and data services available outside of 3G areas” when displaying the map comparison of the two companies. Apparently, this still not good enough for AT&T. They want Verizon to either color in the 2.5 G network on the comparison chart or remove the 3G-only map comparison all together.

Verizon says their comparison is valid and accurate. Nothing needs to be changed. This lawsuit is going to be a narrow one. Arguments from both sides have their merits. Although Verizon is really throwing in a cheap shot with this commercial if you asked me. Let’s see how this fight will develop.

If you haven’t seen it already, check out the Verizon commercial below.