Thailand : “wtf?! Did you just Mexico us?”
https://www.campaignasia.com/article/makes-the-brand-feel-old-apples-thai-ad-criticised-for-stereotypical-depictio/497515
You can watch the 10 minute video here. It’s fine. Nothing’s crazy there. It’s just focusing on an advertisement for Apple, will a comedy of errors happens…
And here’s an archive of the video. Honestly, it doesn’t seem that bad, maybe a little insensitive in parts, but they’re depicted as being able to solve really complex problems, so that’s cool.
That was one of th better commercials I’ve seen in the last couple decades, I found myself pulling for them.
It was a little silly and over the top, which was the goal. I think they nailed it. But it wouldn’t be modern day without offended people running interference.
Honestly, I was expecting the more standard sex jokes. The fact that they didn’t touch anything sexual makes it a high brow media affair from the west.
Pluses in the video:
- They could find factories to make their product at scale within 24 hours both times
- The internet, and their high bandwidth connections, worked anywhere in the country including the countryside factories
Minus is in the video:
- Their luggage got lost at the airport
- They used every type of transportation available, except the most obvious, because the art directors couldn’t resist a planes trains and automobile homage.
- Sepia tone filter on everything
- The hotel they booked was hilariously bad
On the whole, I think the positives are great, the negatives are just nitpicking.
I think I’ve seen all these minuses on other productions and other countries, it’s just traveler frustration tropes
Also, this entire video, the travel physically going to places, could have been an email. There’s no reason they need to physically go to a factory to negotiate a contract, that’s 1970s thinking. But it makes for a good video
As someone who has lived in Thailand, I get why Thais were pissed. The hotel, the taxi, the public transport all look like Thailand from 40 years ago. Yes, you do still find run-down buildings and tuk-tuks in Bangkok today, but it’s generally a lot more developed and modern than westerners expect on first arrival.
To an outsider these might seem like nitpicks, but Thais are fed up with being presented this way to an international audience.
I went to Thailand a few years ago. Tuktuks are awesome.
People not from Thailand actually commenting that they shouldn’t be offended. It’s the confidence that gets me.
Casual racism is a feature with Apple, not a bug.
