Taiwan tablet ad misplays Steve Jobs halo effect

With some types of humor it's best to ask oneself: "Too soon?"

With others, though, all it needs is the admonition: "Not this side of a Tennessee colony on the moon."

Some may feel, on viewing the ad I've embedded, that the latter would have been the best course. For here we have an ad out of Taiwan for the Action Pad, which appears to be an iPad-type device produced by a company called Action Electronics.

The presenter might strike you as somehow familiar. It is an actor, dressed to resemble the late Steve Jobs -- and equipped with with halo and wings.

I am grateful to local personality Dan Bloom, who unearthed this spectacle and sent it to me.

In it, the Jobs character says that he's glad that he can finally play with another pad. He also says other things that might boggle many minds, such as "Thank God."

Do people find this funny? Do they find it somehow uplifting? Will millions rush out to buy the Action Pad?

Bloom tells me that the impersonator is a local comedian called Ah-Ken. However, PanArmenian.net managed to secure a quote from Action Electronics to the effect that no fun is being had here.

A spokeswoman told PanArmenian: "We are not trying to use his death. This is not meant to make fun of Jobs."

There may, indeed, be cultural nuances shimmering in the winds here. On the other hand, there may simply be a venal attempt to sell an inferior product on the back of the recent death of the world's most famous tech icon.