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Apple Pulls Latest Ad After Criticism Over Depiction of Thailand

boss.king said:
This is going to blow your mind, but not everything filmed is entirely accurate to the area it’s filmed in.
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Mind officially blown /s

Anyone who thinks Apple was trying to represent an entire country by showing a couple of locations in that country is pretty dense. If Thailand doesn't want anyone to think they have even one rundown hotel in the entire country then they should do something about their rundown hotels instead of getting offended when people find out about it.

My point was that Apple clearly didn't go in there and turn a nice hotel into a rundown-looking one for their film, so therefore, the location they filmed was portrayed accurately.
 
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Stiksi said:
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.
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But the whole premise of the actual Apple 10 minute video (before it was edited down to remove the whole point, into the 2 minute video posted by the Bangkok Post) was that they couldn't possibly find a large enough factory in the USA to manufacture the boxes they needed in the short timeframe required.

If anything, the USA could have been complaining that the video made them look like they have worse manufacturing technology than Thailand. I don't see epic USA crying here.

The Bangkok Post is the one that seems to actually be making insulting videos about Thailand, not Apple.
 
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djcraze said:
> Apple worked with Thailand-based film production studio Indochina Productions on the video, and it was shot entirely in Thailand.
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I did wonder if it was in fact made by Thai filmmakers. It has that sort of slapstick style that is quite reminiscent of Thai productions.

Personally I'm not sure what everyone is getting so worked up about: it's making fun of American tourists at least as much as it's making fun of Thailand. Playing into stereotypes that foreigners who've never been there probably have about Thailand. And stereotypes that Thais have about foreigners 🤣
 
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rehkram said:
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.
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You're never very far from a Macdonalds in Bangkok. Or a Starbucks. Or a massive hyper-modern shopping mall that makes most of what you'd find in the USA look third-rate...
 
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omihek said:
Mind officially blown /s

Anyone who thinks Apple was trying to represent an entire country by showing a couple of locations in that country is pretty dense. If Thailand doesn't want anyone to think they have even one rundown hotel in the entire country then they should do something about their rundown hotels instead of getting offended when people find out about it.

My point was that Apple clearly didn't go in there and turn a nice hotel into a rundown-looking one for their film, so therefore, the location they filmed was portrayed accurately.
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Quite frankly, they could have. You can fake all sorts of things in filming very, very easily. I used to work in advertising and you'd might be surprised to find out what things are before set dressing happens.

Also, just because there are bad hotels in Thailand doesn't mean that the ad is a fair representation of the country. The are technically crackheads and white supremacists in America, but if a future iPhone ad exclusively used crackheads and white supremacists for its characters you might say that it's not a fair representation of the country. Tropes and stereotypes exist for a reason, but leaning on them too hard can backfire.
 
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bgillander said:
But the whole premise of the actual Apple 10 minute video (before it was edited down to remove the whole point, into the 2 minute video posted by the Bangkok Post) was that they couldn't possibly find a large enough factory in the USA to manufacture the boxes they needed in the short timeframe required.

If anything, the USA could have been complaining that the video made them look like they have worse manufacturing technology than Thailand. I don't see epic USA crying here.

The Bangkok Post is the one that seems to actually be making insulting videos about Thailand, not Apple.
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You don’t use the Mexico filter to portray technically advanced nations, that’s why it’s problematic. It’s not called ”the Mexico filter” because it accurately portrays Mexico, it’s used to show that now we are in a hot, less evolved place. Afghanistan, India, all of Africa and South America are routinely graded with it, but only when it’s dingy, dangerous and unreliable. Try grading a tech company’s factory tour in America like that and see what the client thinks.

Using the yellow color cast in 2024 is just crass.
 
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I have not seen the video as it is now blocked or removed.

As one who lived 13 years in thailand I can say. Thailand government always react strongly on things that don’t depict the country as they want it to be seen.

It is sad that big corporates bow for demands from dictatorships and the like.
 
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Soi Dog said:
I have not seen the video as it is now blocked or removed.

As one who lived 13 years in thailand I can say. Thailand government always react strongly on things that don’t depict the country as they want it to be seen.

It is sad that big corporates bow for demands from dictatorships and the like.
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It is archived here:


from this article:

www.campaignasia.com

'Makes the brand feel old': Apple's Thai ad criticised for stereotypical depictions | News | Campaign Asia

The almost 10-minute film is part of Apple's 'The Underdogs' ad series, known for its over-the-top style. However, critics argue that Apple may have crossed the line this time.
www.campaignasia.com www.campaignasia.com

I personally feel the ad is making fun of the Americans who need to go to Thailand to get the job completed. They are shown as comically inept, and the locals are the ones doing the the work... in Thailand... in a large factory that they cannot find in the USA.

The Americans also booked a hotel that the local taxi driver laughed at, which I guess could be taken as a slight, but since we have some terrible hotels in North America, I assume Thailand probably has them, too. If Thailand has no bad hotels, and the location they filmed at was a 5 star hotel just made to look bad, then they have a valid point. The most telling part for me, though, is that the edited video that the Bangkok Post posted has removed the part of the video with the rather upscale Executive Hotel that the Americans' more competent coworker booked as a replacement. Editing is subjective, and if you change the edit you change the tone. So shouldn't the government actually be complaining about the Bangkok Post making Thailand look bad?
 
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Stiksi said:
You don’t use the Mexico filter to portray technically advanced nations, that’s why it’s problematic. It’s not called ”the Mexico filter” because it accurately portrays Mexico, it’s used to show that now we are in a hot, less evolved place. Afghanistan, India, all of Africa and South America are routinely graded with it, but only when it’s dingy, dangerous and unreliable. Try grading a tech company’s factory tour in America like that and see what the client thinks.

Using the yellow color cast in 2024 is just crass.
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It is hard to see that argument when I don't actually see "the Mexico filter". Not like I've noticed it in movies. Most of this video seems to have a fairly neutral tint to me. There is a bit of a blue tint indoors and a bit of a yellow tint outdoors, but that matches what I see in real life. What are the times I should be checking to see that unnatural yellow tint?
 
contacos said:
I don't even understand what this ad was trying to sell. It just seems ... random?
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It was trying to sell apple products, it was showing office workers using apple products like iPhone doing live translation in Thailand, using vision pro to do product mock ups.
 
Just watched. Thought it was very funny and well done. I don't think it goes out of it's way to make Thailand look bad, as a matter of fact, it makes Thailand look very modern and technological. Certainly nothing for Apple to apologize for.
 
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I’m sure, the portrayal was appropriate for at least parts of the country. But it’s also the right of people to complain about it and ask people that have the same opinion not tu buy apple products. In the end Apple doesn’t give a sh*t about what’s true and right, it’s about what sells them more phones.
 
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Totally not accurate. They’re missing the part where white dudes fly into Thailand looking for boom boom yum yum from little kids
 
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Pretty sure Apple users and Americans wouldn't get THIS offended, which says a lot.

You can call Americans idiots, and Apple users sheep, and it wouldn't get to this level.
 
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