Howard Zieff, a film and television commercial director whose works included Private Benjamin and My Girl, has died. He was 81.
Zieff died Sunday of Parkinson’s disease in Los Angeles, said his wife Ronda Gomez-Quinones.
Zieff was a legendary commercial director before he successfully dovetailed into features. He is credited with helping to change the face of American advertising in the 1960s with such classic, humorous slice-of-life vignette TV spots as Alka-Seltzer’s “Spicy Meatball” and Volkswagen’s “Funeral.” In fact Time magazine described Zieff as being “master of the mini-ha-ha” based on his comedy commercials. But his work was more than comedy. It was thoughtful wit as reflected in the VW and Alka-Seltzer fare which contributed to the 1960s being dubbed by many as the golden age of advertising.
Prior to his spotmaking exploits, Zieff was known for his magazine ads, including a memorable series for Levi’s Real Jewish Rye Bread that featured an American Indian, an African-American lad and a Chinese man enjoying a piece of rye bread. Each ad featured the tagline, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s.”
Goldie Hawn, who received an Oscar nomination for best actress for her role in Private Benjamin in 1980, said Zieff “had a special talent for directing comedies, always a rare gift.”
“What I remember and cherish most was his humor and love of laughter,” Hawn said in a statement.
Born in Chicago in 1927, Zieff grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles and was a photographer for the Navy after World War II.
He moved to New York in the 1950s and worked his way up from a job as a photo assistant to become an influential commercial photographer on Madison Avenue.
He is survived by his wife and his sister.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More