I like the ad, but it's not as grounbreaking as it seems on surface. Yes, it features disabled athletes training just like anyone else, which is great. But did anyone catch the way in which, while presenting itself as breaking stereotypes, it reinforces one of the biggest ones, which is probably never going to go away?
I.e., Apple's message is you can be any race, any ethnicity, any religion, any gender, any sexual orientation, and have any physical disability, and we're happy to have you associated with our product—but only so long as you are physically attractive (as all those in this ad are) (and young and confident helps as well).
Most people look a lot more like the frumpy "I'm a PC guy" than the typical Apple actors. Yet in spite of this, I can't recall Apple ever having someone that looks like that appear in their ads—except, of course, to represent the competition. I enjoyed those ads, yet the message was clear--we're happy to celebrate diversity in every form, except physical attractiveness. Indeed, the explicit message is that being physically unattractive is non-Apple.
And of course Apple is no different from anyone else in this regard. It's the nature of advertising. It's more about giving the appearance of embracing differences than actually doing so.
Don't get me wrong--I'm glad they're making ads like this. But let's keep our eyes open to fact that Apple, and every other company, is acting in their own self-interest in doing so before we pat them too much on the back.
