Has anybody checked on Apple recently? The company, normally famous for its perfectly pitched advertising, appears to have found itself in hot water over a misjudged ad for the second time this year.
A couple of months back, Apple apologised over its tasteless M4 iPad Pro ad which, in order to promote the thinness of the new model, depicted all manner of creative apparatus being unceremoniously crushed. And now, it's been forced to apologise again, this time over its depiction of Thailand in a new ad. And unlike last time, it's even removed the ad.
Titled 'OOO (Out of Office)', The fifth instalment of Apple's "At Work" ad series features four characters known as' 'the underdogs' travelling to Thailand in order to find a factory that can produce a million boxes for a difficult business client. But it's the sense of place that's been troubling viewers.
From the 'sepia filter' that so often pervades cinematic depictions of 'otherness' to shabby buildings and tuktuks, the ad makes Thailand appear particularly dated for comic effect.
I have to say that the latest @Apple commercial video in Thailand is EPIC Fail.You bending the fact selecting the worse place to shoot and make us looking bad going back to be another 3rd world country (50years in the past+). FYI And we don’t ride elephant! pic.twitter.com/bnm1JZ2n57July 26, 2024
Terrible.I’m currently using @Apple products, but this advertisement is very discriminatory towards Thailand.The ad feels outdated, like something from 60 year ago. I’m seriously considering stopping the use of Apple products and making a video about it.#applead #applethailand https://t.co/wsE8r6oqq0July 27, 2024
And now, in what used to be an uncharacteristic move for Apple, the brand has apologised. “Our intent was to celebrate the country’s optimism and culture, and we apologise for not fully capturing the vibrancy of Thailand today,” the company said in a statement today. “The film is no longer being aired.” Indeed, the ad has since been removed from Apple's YouTube page.
Still, at least Apple can take some solace from the fact that it isn't the only tech giant to have missed the mark with an ad this week – Google is still reeling from the backlash to its tone deaf AI Olympic ad.
