Aside from elaborate keynote presentations or Sir Jonathan Ives‘ industry-leading design, Apple nowadays is known for its successful advertising. In a mediascape littered with flash and glare, set up in a frantic attempt to shock the viewing public into remembering brands, Apple is heard by speaking softly. Apple’s new billboards let their products speak for themselves, as if nothing could be more fantastic than the third generation iPad.

An example of a genuine ad for the original iPad, photographed by anitakhart on Flickr

You’d almost be disappointed if someone on the internet didn’t try to take the piss out of Apple’s marketing team. Applefied Ads is a blog that takes Apple’s minimalist branding strategy and applies it to common items. The ads feature the product, maybe a hand interacting with it, a an overwhelming white background, minimal copy, and branding in the corner.

It might be a parody, but what could McDonalds say that would be better than this ad?

The parodies were created by disgruntled Freelancer and Art Director Intern Bryan Evans. On his blog Evans wrote, “Lately I have noticed how relatively boring ultra simple Apple’s advertising has become. It has turned into Product + Product Name + Hands-Touching-Product-formulaic-advertising BS.”

BiC pens: they just work.

The lampooning features everyday items like french fries, BiC pens, and “incredibly thin” wheat thins. While the ads are meant to chastise Apple for formulaic advertising, the ads actually make me smile. Say what you will about Apple’s advertisements being boring, I wouldn’t complain if more public advertisements took a cue from Apple and whispered for my attention instead of begging and screaming.

Only snag: the Wheat Thins logo, text that says “wheat thins” looks out of place beside the copy with the product name.

What do you think? Are Applefied Ads an improvement over the usual marketing, or should Apple do something more interesting? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.