April 14, 2026
Founding Father of Copy-Paste?
Franklin's bad ads for Apple ][ clones and the beloved impersonator they depict
Cloner or clever? Fans cheer Franklin as purists yell theft—and roast its goofy website
TLDR: An old ad campaign for Apple II clones by Franklin—fronted by a Ben Franklin impersonator—has resurfaced, reviving claims of copycat hardware and cheeky branding. Commenters split between calling it theft versus scrappy innovation, while others roast Franklin’s Word-era website and reminisce about the beloved REX organizer.
The internet just rediscovered Franklin Computer’s cheeky 1980s Apple II clone ads—starring a beloved Benjamin Franklin impersonator likely to be Philly legend Ralph Archbold—and the comments are pure fireworks. The company peddled cheaper Apple look‑alikes while leaning hard on Founding Father vibes, from swimsuit brochure stunts at Applefest to a cartoon Ben they claimed as a trademark. Meanwhile, critics say Franklin copied Apple’s guts so closely that reviewers could swap parts between machines, and even Steve Wozniak allegedly thought the circuit layout was basically identical. Some forum lore even accuses them of lifting Apple’s startup software, though the article notes it couldn’t verify that.
Cue the community brawl. One camp drops history links like this folklore piece and shouts “theft,” while others defend Franklin as scrappy heroes who made tech affordable. The spiciest thread? A semantic knife-fight over the phrase “intellectual property,” with commenters demanding exactly which law Franklin broke, not just vibes. Nostalgia rolls in too: old-school fans swoon over Franklin’s sleek REX pocket organizer from the 90s. And the roast of the day? People discovered Franklin’s ancient website looks like a MS Word file saved as HTML, and they can’t stop laughing. The mood swings between courtroom drama, retro love letter, and meme factory—“trademarking Ben while cloning Apple” is the punchline everyone’s running with.
Key Points
- •Franklin Computer Corporation launched Apple II–compatible ACE computers, starting with the ACE 100, to reach market quickly using off-the-shelf components.
- •Franklin’s marketing included a swimsuit-model stunt at Applefest 1982 in Boston and a Benjamin Franklin–themed ad campaign.
- •Anecdotal accounts identify Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin impersonator Ralph Archbold as the actor in Franklin’s ads.
- •Franklin documentation claimed a Ben Franklin cartoon as a company trademark, while products reportedly closely matched Apple II hardware designs.
- •Steve Wozniak reportedly observed that ACE 1000-series machines copied Apple II circuit-board layout; reviewers interchanged Apple II cards with ACE systems. An unverified claim alleges BIOS code copying.