Apple & Google drop the ball with controversial ads
Apple’s latest “Underdog” ad and Google’s "Dear Sydney" commercial for Gemini chatbot were the recent inductees into ad hall of shame this week
It’s a bad week to be a part of the marketing teams at Apple and Google after the tech giants immense faced backlash for their respective ads.
Apple’s new promotional video has been called out for its rather regressive portrayal of Thailand. Google, on the other hand, has invited the ire of social media for pushing the AI narrative too hard, an accusation that was flung not too long ago at rival Apple for its “crushing creativity ad.”
In its fifth instalment of the “Underdog” series, Apple said that it collaborated with a Thai production company to make an ad that celebrated “the country’s optimism and culture.” However, the ad ended up offending many in Thailand for its “regressive” and “outdated” vision of the country.
The ad shows four characters—known as “The Underdogs”—who try to triumph over workplace crisis using Apple products. The 10-minute-long film is part of Apple’s eponymous campaign, which began five years ago, in 2019, with characters setting out to do their own thing after breaking free from their corporate jobs.
The latest edition shows the Underdogs on a work trip to Thailand, jumping from trains to hopping into tuk-tuks, trying to find a packaging factory in the country to meet the demands of a difficult client.
However, netizens are not too stoked by Apple painting a negative picture of the country, as an unfavourable environment for entrepreneurship. They also pointed out the use of common cliches associated with Thailand which the country has been trying hard to shake off.
Following the backlash, Apple chose to apologise and pull down the ad from the internet entirely. Reports suggest that the ad was made in-house and not by Apple’s creative agency, TBWA’s Media Arts Lab.
There was no love lost for Google’s Gemini ad either with critics and netizens expressing their utter disdain for it. The ad shows a father talking about his daughter—a young female sprinter—who admires American hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The father enlists the help of Gemini to pen a letter on his daughter’s behalf to McLaughlin-Levrone.
The ad stoked outrage for dehumanising the process of writing fan mails. Detractors of the ad pointed out that fan letters are usually heartfelt, personal and moving. The commercial sets the wrong precedent by discouraging people to write from the heart and instead seeking help of AI chatbots.
Critics have been very vocal about their hatred for the ad with a Washington Post columnist stating that she wishes to throw a “sledgehammer into the television” every time the ad is aired. Some also noted that the commercial has added to the AI paranoia at an age where creative jobs as we know it could face extinction.
Unlike Apple, Google has stood by the ad, refuting all accusations: “"We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it.”
Not too long ago, rival Apple received widespread backlash for its “Crushing creativity” ad that showed a large hydraulic press destroying everyday art instruments like piano, paintbrush and canvas.
