In November of 2009 an iPhone app was introduced to the apple app approval board. This app entitled "BobbleRep" was designed to allow its users access to contact information for voting and non-voting members of Congress. Apple denied the request for the app due to the content of the app. The cartoonized heads of the congressmen were said to be unfavorable interpretations of public figures which violates one of the app approval board's license agreement.
It's interesting that such an informative app would be declined because the creator chose to cartoonize the faces of the representatives. The images above are examples of the artist's rendering of the candidates Harman (CA) and Pomerov (ND). The facial features of each character may be slightly exaggerated, but in no way are they offensive to the representatives depicted. They also lack any form of commentary portraying their political views, these simply appear to be unbiased cartoons of each congressional member, denied by Apple in order to avoid the contraversy of accepting such an app that could arise from over-analysis of the characters. If nothing else an app such as this would promote the interaction of citizens and their congressional representatives, potentially creating an increase in information for each party involved. I believe that the idea of creating a slightly humorous, though realistic, cartoon of representatives gives the public an image associated with the representative, making them more approachable.
Tim Richmond later contributed to his initial article of the rejection by Apple, with the statement that the app was reconsidered, and after slight revisions was approved.
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