**Check out Hal’s Hub that made Apple pull the TV ad over here.
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Late last week I received an email from Hal Licino, one of our more outspoken Hubbers, who claimed to have single-handedly pressuring Apple into pulling one of their iPhone TV commercials after one of his Hubs claimed that it was openly promoting racial slurs. Hal, an Italian, continued to explain that the word Terroni was plainly seen throughout a commercial that he saw on TV, which sparked him to push out a Hub that blasted the seemingly otherwise harmless Apple marketing spot.
You’re probably wondering, “Well, what does Terroni even mean and why does Hal think that it’s so bad?” and for that explanation I’ll pull a quote from the email that Hal sent over my way:
“To the uninitiated, allow me to inform you what Terroni means in Italian. It is a derogatory term utilized by skinheads, neo-Nazis, and other violent racists to indicate that Southern Italians are retrograde, primitive, stupid Neanderthals only fit to till the earth with an ox, and unworthy of civil rights or equality in any way.”
After doing a little research, I found out that Terroni is the plural version of Terrone, which is defined on Urban Dictionary as “A derogatory term for Italians south of Bologna. Literally translated it means “farmer”. Northern Italians use the term with contempt for their uneducated, and cultureless brothers of the south of Italy.” Also, if you look up Terrone on Wikipedia it directs you to their list of common ethnic slurs. So, I guess that it appears that Hal may have an argument here, eh? Here’s some more information how all of this went down, straight from the mouth of Hal Licino himself.
“The story of how I was placidly watching TV one evening when an Apple iPhone commercial aired that made my jaw drop to my lap is outlined in my Hub that’s titled Apple’s New TV Ad Uses The Italian Version Of The “N”-Word!. This Hub became immediately popular, drawing more than 1200 page views its first day. One of the commenters suggested that I contact Katie Cotton, Vice President of Worldwide Corporate Communications at Apple, so I wrote her an email expressing my outrage on behalf of the 6% of the North American population which is of Italian extraction, and didn’t hear back. Then I went onto Apple’s Press Contacts page and emailed everyone listed on that page who seemed to have any connection to television advertising and iPhones. A couple of more days elapsed and I still had heard nothing. So, I went back to the Press Contacts page and started dialing numbers. I got voicemail after voicemail and left messages, not really expecting anyone to get back to me.
Another couple of days later, Mr. Stuart McKenzie from Apple called me to discuss the situation. He had read my Hub, explained that this was an entirely inadvertent occurrence, and asked me for a couple of days to look into the commercial and speak to some people at Apple. He then called me back on Wednesday, April 8th to inform me that Apple took this event very seriously, the commercial was going to “be pulled immediately and never shown again,” and thanked me for writing the Hub thus bringing the situation to Apple’s attention. I thanked Mr. McKenzie on behalf of my entire community. ”
HubPages Blog 
Great job Hal! And this just goes to show you the power of the written word, in this case a hubbers written words. Thanks for being so tenacious about this and getting results. Wow!
Good work, it is amazing what you can accomplish with determination!
good work,your determination and good intention got you what you intended to do.where there is will there is way. bravo!
This is very upsetting. Why must America be so “politically correct”? Its the biggest form of censorship and I am tired of people whining over little things such as this. I would have kept the commercial.
That is so awesome! Good going Hal. I read that hub by the way and thumbs upped it. I feel like a part of history.
You do realize that “Terroni” is the name of a very popular restaurant franchise in Toronto, don’t you? That’s why it was in the Apple commercial – they were referencing an actual establishment.
Why aren’t you mounting a campaign to try to shut the restaurant down? There is also a Terroni in Los Angeles, so you have your work cut out for you.
@Unger: I don’t see the problem either.
I will hit myself later on the day for even giving Hal the satisfaction he’s looking for; attention by unnecessary criticism. Neverless I would like to point out some facts.
Most of hal’s hubs are written without any good research. For example the ‘lappers are morons’.
Long story short;
lapping is a method of grinding the processor surface(grey) untill only the copper is left. Keeping in mind that the surface must be as flat as possible. A heat sink (with flat bottom) covers the processor, making heat transfer to the heatsink better.
He states that these ‘morons’ kill there cpu by using 300 grid sandpaper. He isn’t entirely wrong, the process is not necessary for people who don’t need it to. But the people who use it, are extreme gamers/modders/designers/ all kind of different people with a fascination for computer hardware and pushing it to the limits. Lapping does indeed give you a 3-6 C drop. If he would have done some research he would have read that lapping is done in stages. 300 grid->500grid-> 900grid(wet/dry) sandpaper. It is done with the biggest care.
Second, he calls the lappers morons. moron: a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment. Hal distinctively lacks in good judgment and notably stupid. So if I would follow his logica.
lapper=moron
moron=a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.
a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.=hal
hal=lapper?
By the way hal, you say you find this ‘terroni’ stuff is a form of rasicme, you keep yelling that lappers are morons, at least a 100 times. You represent hubpages by writing for them. Therefor hubpages is responsible for what you write. @hubpages; complaint against hal. Lappers are seen as a community. He states the whole community are morons. I don’t have to tell you what racism is. But what he is doing is a form racism.
Before hal begins saying I am a lapper. I am not, never done it. I will through someday. I use submerged pc in mineral oil. You are free to write that I am a moron for using submerged pc. But before you do. Lot’s of military electronic is submerged or uses a sort of chemical called fluorinert.
@hubpages: You are allowed to provide hal my email adres in case he would like to contact me about this. But I don’t take hypocrites so seriously.