Apple Pulls Latest Ad After Criticism Over Depiction of Thailand

[rehkram]

I've been to Thailand many times, and claiming Thailand *isn't* like that just a bit disingenuous. Yes, Thailand is very developed in certain areas and it has some beautiful hotels, malls, streets, public transportation, etc. However it also has (many more) old buildings, with people living in small, cramped spaced. Some areas of Bangkok have no or poor trash collection. I've seen people just pile trash under their houses or in a corner of the street.

The factory represented in the Ad is also a realistic representation of a good, normal type of factory in Thailand.

Is all of Thailand like the ad? No. Can you find every single type of place and situation they portrayed in Thailand, today? Absolutely.

That doesn't mean it's not a beautiful country well worth visiting.

Totally right. For "Bangkok" I could substitute "Old Delhi", or "Kabul", or "Lahore", "Teheran", "Marrakesh", "East Berlin before Glasnost", and many other cities. I've been to all of the above and others.

It really depends on your expectations. Do your homework. Romantic notions are just that, if you can't go with the flow then just go home, right? I did learn enough to abort and go home after a couple of rough trips, that's a long story.

If you are adventurous enough to think you want to go visit those cities, and are expecting everything to be like "back home", you're stone-cold guaranteed to be bitterly disappointed. That's one's own problem, not everybody else's.

In other words, you're either a world traveller fully prepared for an adventure, or you are not. I have no sympathy for people who complain about- or denigrate other places when they get back because, crass example, they couldn't find a fricken' Macdonalds.

 

[bgillander]

Totally right. For "Bangkok" I could substitute "Old Delhi", or "Kabul", or "Lahore", "Teheran", "Marrakesh", "East Berlin before Glasnost", and many other cities. I've been to all of the above and others. It really depends on your expectations.

Romantic notions are just that, if you can't go with the flow then just go home, right? And I did learn enough to abort and go home after a couple of rough trips, long story.

If you are adventurous enough to think you want to go visit those cities, and are expecting everything to be like "back home", you're guaranteed to be bitterly disappointed. That's one's own problem, not everybody else's.

In other words, you're either a world traveller prepared for an adventure, or you are not. I have no sympathy for people who complain about- or denigrate other places when they get back because, crass example, they couldn't find a fricken' Macdonalds.

Or "New York" or "Vancouver"... almost everywhere has an older, downtrodden area.

The Bangkok Post editing the 10 minute ad down to a 2 minute video to remove any sections which showed any upside is the part with which I have an issue. The Post is making videos that show Thailand in a far worse light than Apple. It is like showing only the first 10 minutes of the Wizard of Oz and then complaining that you don't like black and white movies about Kansas.

 

[H2SO4]

My goodness. The world is so damn sensitive. You have to be PC with every damn thing nowadays or you will get canceled.

One of the biggest reasons for that is that those that made the offensive gestures in the first place didn't learn and would take no for an answer.
I remember growing up in the UK, chalky was a term used by one sector of society against another. They thought is was funny and I'd even go so far as they thought it was a sign of affection.
NO, it wasn't, and then it got as far as a straw that broke the camels back moment.

 

[bobbie424242]

It's yellow.

 

[uacd]

Well some people think marketing and promo campaigning are all easy: you just shoot, edit and post whatever comes to your head after you hit a beer, coffee or joint. Looks like they skipped classes on cultural sensitivity

 

[No5tromo]

Nothing new, this is a shot from the iPhone 7 Plus ad shot in Greece. They chose the most rural, remote area they could find, far from an accurate representation of the country but I don't think that anyone got offended though.

 

[jo-1]

Cancel Culture is just hilarious - Monty Python was so prophetic in many ways - or just looking back?​

 

[hagjohn]

It is comedy people. Move on, nothing to see here.

 

[oldwatery]

Get over yourselves. Get a hobby. Do something useful instead of whining on the web.

So what exactly are you doing with your post if not whining on the web? There sure are a bunch of whiners here Moaning about people being upset. Cuts all ways people.

 

[Razorpit]

Would we expect an apology from a Thai company that used WV or MS for a video commercial? I mean, those two places are the sewers of America but they exist and so do the people that live there. (Apologies if you're in WV and reading this as I've never been there but I've been to MS so no apology necessary).

I’ve been to both. WV is a beautiful place. So much in fact John Denver wrote a song about it. You should listen to it. If you like the outdoors you need to visit.

 

[Ultracyclist]

If you want you’ll always find something to complain about. FFS today’s humor isn’t what it should be anymore.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

2024, the year that will be forever remembered for its epic battle between PR departments about someone somewhere being offended over someones somewhere’s short film jfc

 

[subjonas]

Seeing how many of y’all here are offended that some people didn’t like an ad, it would appear not.

Annoyed and offended are not synonymous.

 

[MacBH928]

this is why we can't have nice things.

Personally, I find the "less tech-y" Thailand is actually an attraction to visit the place. They lost an tourism advertisement opportunity.

 

[HappyDude20]

I don't even understand what this ad was trying to sell. It just seems ... random?

The full ad is probably like 20 minutes long and along their journey use Apple products and services, in the end getting the job done and showing you how Apple saves the day.

Their very first video years ago was entertaining and then the story lines got kinda meh, and now with this latest one felt like they had to send the characters abroad.

Edit: it’s 10 minutes long. About to watch it. Will report afterwards.

 

[jo-1]

Nothing new, this is a shot from the iPhone 7 Plus ad shot in Greece. They chose the most rural, remote area they could find, far from an accurate representation of the country but I don't think that anyone got offended though.

Of course they should have used images like this 🤣

 

[szw-mapple fan]

It's hardly a fair comparison. Charity ads are not there to promote tourism, and what you get to witness while traveling in Africa is nothing short of those charity ads. The way Apple presented those travelers' woes in Thailand is nothing but true, but with a positive spin.

Neither is the Apple ad. In the end the goal is to get you to spend money on their cause or products. What is depicted might very well be real and truthful but it’s also depicting it in a way that cherry picks the kinds of locations that feels typical and familiar to a western audience. It’s understandable that some people in Thailand might get frustrated if they always see only that aspect of their country portrayed to an international audience.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Nothing new, this is a shot from the iPhone 7 Plus ad shot in Greece. They chose the most rural, remote area they could find, far from an accurate representation of the country but I don't think that anyone got offended though.
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The frustration probably isn’t the single depiction in and of itself, but rather a lack of diversity in a country’s portrayal in general. Apple couldn’t have done anything about the other media depictions of Thailand but they should have known not to shoot something like this themselves.

Greece is commonly portrayed to be a developed nation and tourism hotspot in most media, so the kinds of photos you showed are depicting more of a hidden gem kinda of locations. On the other hand, countries in south and south east Asia are almost exclusively portrayed as exotic places that are loud, crowded, and messy in media with little portrayal of their more modern regions. Apple doing something similar would just be playing into the stereotype. I think it’s understandable that people wanted to hold Apple to a higher cultural standard given their reputation in advertising.

 

[torquer]

lol.

 

[thadoggfather]

These overzealous woke tech companies are tripping themselves up

Inb4 someone asks me to define woke so they can argue with me if it isn’t an exact prescription to their thought process

It’s all so fatiguing but the tides will turn very very soon in my estimation. The disingenuous cards have been way overplayed recently

 

[Stiksi]

These overzealous woke tech companies are tripping themselves up

Inb4 someone asks me to define woke so they can argue with me if it isn’t an exact prescription to their thought process

It’s all so fatiguing but the tides will turn very very soon in my estimation. The disingenuous cards have been way overplayed recently

Sure, if a German tech firm was the no. 2 largest in the world and did a commercial in which they portray Germany as a tech wonderland and then their apostles travel to Kentucky to one of those old mining towns, use the Mexico filter and make things happen with the simple but hearty local folk with a little bit of a charity feel to it, the crying on here would be epic.

You want to declare yourself no 1 in the world and then complain when people elsewhere view your output as a little arrogant when it is. Who could have guessed? The fantasy you guys tell yourself looks a little different from the outside.

 

[avz]

I've been to Thailand many times, and claiming Thailand *isn't* like that just a bit disingenuous. Yes, Thailand is very developed in certain areas and it has some beautiful hotels, malls, streets, public transportation, etc. However it also has (many more) old buildings, with people living in small, cramped spaced. Some areas of Bangkok have no or poor trash collection. I've seen people just pile trash under their houses or in a corner of the street.

The factory represented in the Ad is also a realistic representation of a good, normal type of factory in Thailand.

Is all of Thailand like the ad? No. Can you find every single type of place and situation they portrayed in Thailand, today? Absolutely.

That doesn't mean it's not a beautiful country well worth visiting.

You are missing the point. It is not "the invisible hand" that decided what to show in the Ad is it?

 

[HappyDude20]

The full ad is probably like 20 minutes long and along their journey use Apple products and services, in the end getting the job done and showing you how Apple saves the day.

Their very first video years ago was entertaining and then the story lines got kinda meh, and now with this latest one felt like they had to send the characters abroad.

Edit: it’s 10 minutes long. About to watch it. Will report afterwards.

It was fine. My honest opinion is the video was too quick to display the true benefits of the Apple services offered. The video was very fast paced.

Apple has great services and now with the Apple Vision Pro even more so but you would literally have to pause to see what specific feature the characters were using.

Video wasn’t bad.

 

[thadoggfather]

then their apostles travel to Kentucky to one of those old mining towns, use the Mexico filter and make things happen with the simple but hearty local folk with a little bit of a charity feel to it, the crying on here would be epic.

Mmm I mean interesting point with 'The fantasy you guys tell yourself looks a little different from the outside' to some extent-- although clearly not everyone has the same myopic view of the rest of the world, only some and particularly some who self proclaim to know it all and having seen it all of a certain political persuasion, when clearly they haven't seen anything.

But plenty of those same people here in USA have endless empathy for Ukraine for example, a place they didn't know existed and couldn't point to on a map prior to a few years ago, but at the same time declare themselves experts on international policy and know the best appropriations of taxpayer funds is spent all overseas and none domestically, and hold no empathy whatsoever for working class American families struggling to put food on the table (due to an economy that is 'envy of the world' so we've been reminded 1 million times but haven't actually seen recently), homeless veterans who served their country, or even random average Kentuckians you used in your example.

..How ubiquitous the disdain they have for people who simply don't agree with them, because the media instructed them that that is love or some perverted pretense of it, is would make your stomach churn if you actually knew even half the extent of it. It's why there's so much in fighting too, you could agree on 98% of things, but the 2% that you don't they made some people believe are their existential enemies even down to being in the same party. It's pretty delusional stuff that's gotten completely out of hand.

Grim times in general a lot of it brought upon ourselves, and by ourselves I mean at least from people who still are unwavering in their assigned 'views' 3.5 years later when they should be re-evaluating everything including: who am I? on the most fundamental level

 

[Unregistered 4U]

> Apple worked with Thailand-based film production studio Indochina Productions on the video, and it was shot entirely in Thailand.

I haven’t watched it, but this sounds an awful lot like a personal problem.

I did watch it and I could tell it wasn’t shot in the US. Maybe that’s the problem? That it didn’t look like a generic international metropolitan area?

I’d like to know if Indochina’s Thai employees were proud of what they created?