Apple Ads Aren't Cool Anymore. Here's What I Think Changed.

CNET

3 days ago

Nothing about Apple's latest promotional video felt like Apple. For over 7 minutes, an awkward comedian explains to a sleepy audience of disinterested teens that the only way parents will buy them an expensive MacBook for college is to make a convincing PowerPoint business presentation.
Problem was, the presentation wasn't convincing -- and it was hard to tell who the video was even targeting. Do the parents that raised the iPad generation need to be swayed to buy Apple products? Or was Apple trying to sway the students who use Chromebooks for classwork?
The video was posted a week ago on Friday, as a kickoff to the back-to-school shopping season, and I wasn't the only one calling it cringy on social media. The following day, Apple took the video down. A downloadable version of the presentation template, which is 81 slides long, is still available on Apple's page for college students.
But taking down ads now is becoming a pattern for Apple. Since May of last year, Apple has removed four different problematic marketing videos, a mix of commercials and short films.
In this week's episode of One More Thing (embedded above), I wanted to take a broader look at some of Apple's more recent advertising campaigns. What is making some of these modern ads duds compared to the iconic commercials of Apple's past? Why was the company known for being cooler than everyone now coming off so uncool?
Think back to of some of the best Apple commercials: silhouetted dancers rocking out with an iPod, Jeff Goldblum laughing at how easy it is to set up an iMac, the iPhone always just having "an app for that," the punchy banter from the "I'm a Mac I'm a PC" duo, or even the Macintosh's conformity-smashing "1984" ad. In the Apple ads I grew up with, Apple's message is always just showing you why it's cool and punching down at the corporate competition for being more difficult.
But when we look at more recent ads, Apple appears to be punching down at people who just aren't cool enough to get it. The girl who asks "What's a computer?" makes it seem like we're the fools for calling an iPad a computer.
In Apple Intelligence "Genius" commercials, slackers in an office get away with not preparing for their jobs -- but I guess we're all the fools for not noticing and actually putting in the work.
Or in the case of the recently pulled "Parent Presentation," parents are fools who don't think the Mac is a good deal. So kids can sway them easily with business speak.
If you watch this week's episode, I do offer some advice if you're trying to convince your parents to buy a MacBook for college. It doesn't have to be that complicated to make a good case for a great laptop. And hopefully Apple's future ads can get back to just showing us why life is easier with a Mac and Apple products by poking at Windows or Google machines -- instead of poking at people.
If you're looking for more One More Thing, subscribe to our YouTube page to catch Bridget Carey breaking down the latest Apple news and issues every Friday.