Apple is facing backlash over a recent ad set in Thailand, which critics say portrays the country as backward and shabby.
The 10-minute video, uploaded to YouTube in mid-July, is part of a series of comedy shorts called “The Underdogs,” and showcases Apple features and products through the adventures of four hapless business partners.
In the latest episode, “The Underdogs: OOO (Out Of Office),” the characters head to Thailand to source a packaging company at the behest of a demanding and egotistical client back in the US, played by “Superbad” actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
To adapt to his constantly changing requests, they dash around the country on aging trains, buses, and tuk-tuks, trying to find a key supplier. They encounter obliging locals, and a very dingy hotel — with all their problems ultimately smoothed over on the fly by Apple features.
In 2020, “The Underdogs” managed to snag a Directors’ Guild of America nomination for achievement in directing commercials — but the latest episode has bombed on social media, and comments on YouTube have been turned off.
Numerous complaints from Thai-focused accounts have appeared on TikTok and X, racking up hundreds of thousands of views.
“The video portrays something that looks like Thailand in the 1960s,” said TikToker That Thai Auntie.
Many commentators noted how shabby a lot of the architecture and interiors looked despite much of the ad being set in Bangkok, a highly modernized city.
Others remarked on the footage’s sepia-toned color grading, which media critics have said is often used to convey a less-affluent environment.
One X user joked that Thailand has become a “yellow filter” country, saying, “I like how Apple put a third-world filter on contemporary Bangkok in their ads. It’s very classy.”
Several social media users posted images of modern Thailand in order to contrast with the run-down surroundings featured in much of the ad.
One TikTok user, in a post that has had almost 70,000 views, contrasted it disapprovingly with a brightly-colored 2023 Google Pixel ad, which includes both modern and rustic aspects of Thai life.
It’s “100% stereotyping,” said TikTok user Rohit Singh, who said he has lived in the country for over a year.
He filmed his response — which was seen more than 18,000 times — in an airport, making the point that the interior was far more modern than that shown in the Apple ad.
The portrayal particularly stings for East Asians, he said, given the amount of manufacturing labor these countries provide for tech companies.
Indeed, last year, Nikkei Asia reported that Apple was looking to expand its manufacturing base beyond China, with a view to making its Macbooks in Thailand.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has defended the advert, saying it could still benefit the country’s “soft power,” the Bangkok Post reported.
It’s the second time this year that Apple has faced criticism of its advertising. The latest “Underdogs” ad comes only weeks after the company pulled a badly-received iPad ad.
That ad depicted a hydraulic press crushing musical instruments and other creative tools.
It was meant to convey how many features are crammed into an iPad but reminded many onlookers of the potential threat that technology, particularly AI, poses to creative careers.
In that case, Apple’s head of marketing and communications, Tor Myhren, said the company “missed the mark.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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