Chris Martin, You Actually Have Turned into Bono.

As I was watching tonight's episode of Top Chef and reading Ender's Game during the commercial break, my ears were delighted to hear a new Coldplay song, but my eyes were distressed at what they witnessed:



And compare that to this:



Some of you may be wondering what the problem is. Allow me to explain. About six years ago in an interview on MTV2, Chris Martin said that you would never see them in commercials supporting corporations. He used Pepsi as an example, but really, what's the difference between Pepsi and Apple when it comes down to it? Some could argue that the commercial isn't an Apple commercial, it's a Coldplay one, but I would beg to differ. Coldplay doesn't need commercials; that's what the radio is supposedly for. I always thought Chris Martin naming his daughter Apple wasn't a reference to the corporation, but maybe I'm mistaken and they're repaying the favor. Either way, I'm incredibly disappointed in the hypocrisy. Chris Martin is an outspoken advocate of Fair Trade and environmentalism, yet Apple rates last on Greenpeace's list of electronics companies with acceptable levels of toxins in their products. Some of these toxins contribute to global warming, not to mention that Apple has no reusing or recycling procedure in place for its products. And speaking of Fair Trade, Apple is being investigated for using sweat shop labor in China to manufacture its iPods! Chris, Chris, Chris!

Someone recently complained to me that the new Coldplay single "Violet Hill" sounds too much like U2. I vehemently disagreed with this observation, and I still stand by it. I do think, however, a more fair assessment would be, "Chris Martin is too much like Bono." You can't support the cause of the exploited and sleep with the exploiter, something Bono does far too often. It's a shame, because I really like the two new Coldplay songs I've heard. I think I'll just have to download the album illegally when it comes out. Afterall, they won't need my money anyway after selling their souls to Steve Jobs.