Lately, Apple has had some bad luck with the public’s reception of some ads. A few months ago, the company received backlash due to its “Crush” commercial. Now, due to a similar situation, Apple is pulling another ad, this time in Thailand. The parent company of the iPhone has not been the only one involved in ad-related controversy recently.
The ad in question is part of the company’s “The Underdogs” comedy series. The show usually shows situations where the cast uses the brand’s products to get through everyday situations at work. However, it seems that the representation of Thailand in the ad was offensive to several.
Apple is pulling another ad, this time in Thailand
The ad was published in July under the title “OOO (Out of Office)” and has a duration of 10 minutes. The theme of the episode was to find a new packaging factory, going through multiple locations in Thailand. However, some creative decisions, such as sepia filters and the representation of certain places, were criticized for giving an image of an undeveloped country. The criticism began to emerge shortly after the ad was published.
Apple defended itself by saying that they were trying “to celebrate the country’s optimism and culture, and we apologize for not fully capturing the vibrancy of Thailand today.” The company claimed that it even worked with a local audiovisual production company to keep potential representation issues under control. However, it seems that was not enough in the end.
The Cupertino giant confirmed that “the film is no longer being aired.” The Underdogs series had five episodes accessible from Apple’s YouTube channel, but the company pulled four of the ads, which suggests that they found potentially offensive representations in the others as well. However, there is still no official word on the removal of the other episodes of the show. If you want to see the ad, it is still available in a report by Campaign.
2024-08-03 15:06:35