Apple's COMMERCIALS: NO Diversity?

willoughbywilloughby
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
iPhoto: white, most likely middle-classed 20-something male

iDVD: ditto

iTunes (rip, mix, burn): ditto

iBook: umm ditto

iPod : you guessed it (well, I'm not sure if he's white)



My point is...where's Grandpa? Mom? The kids? The whole family? MINORITIES?!



Ok, I'm not expecting a commercial with gangsters from compton making iMovies on their Dual 1Ghz G4s...but what about a nice commercial of an African American family on a ski trip in the Pocono Mountains of PA filming their kids on the slopes, editing the movies with iMovie, emailing them to Grandma who watches it on her new iMac???



I think Apple wants more customers than the general population of AI (ohhh, I'm gonna get smacked for that one)



[ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Willoughby ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,392member
    Yeah where the guy in dreads...where's the handicap person? Where's heavyset people(this IS America). Adverstising is like this in general...put up attractive people to sell your product..it's all about the facade.
  • Reply 2 of 68
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    You make a point. In Apple's efforts to expand their market share, they would be best served to attract all demographics within that ubiquitous--yet unreachable--95%. Familiarity is one way to do that. Sure there are other ways (robust features, design, etc.), but one likes to feel like they are part of the target audience.
  • Reply 3 of 68
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    Actually, there was a young African-American lady (with dreads) in some of the original iBook print ads.
  • Reply 4 of 68
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by gordy:

    <strong>Actually, there was a young African-American lady (with dreads) in some of the original iBook print ads.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Ahh, I do remember this. Maybe I should change the topic to "Commercials"



    There still aren't enough minorities. Oh and to hmurchison : You think those guys in the Apple commercials are attractive? That last guy in the iPhoto commercial is down right skanky looking :eek:
  • Reply 5 of 68
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    iDVD- Old People



    iBook- Black Woman and Old White Man



    Rip Mix Burn- Barry White, George Clinton, Lil Kim etc..



    I see diversity?



    iDVD- A Hawaiian male even shows up!
  • Reply 5 of 68
    mr.potatoheadmr.potatohead Posts: 99member
    I would say the guy in the iPod commercial was either Asian (i.e., India) or Middle-Eastern.
  • Reply 7 of 68
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

    <strong>iDVD- Old People



    iBook- Black Woman and Old White Man



    Rip Mix Burn- Barry White, George Clinton, Lil Kim etc..



    I see diversity?



    iDVD- A Hawaiian male even shows up!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    None of those people you mentioned are USING the products.



  • Reply 8 of 68
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    iPod-European Man



    Rip Mix Burn-Features Popular Vocalists, Mostly African American.



    And the old couple in the Elope commercial are indeed using the product. They play the DVD on their DVD player and watch the movie, the way Apple intends this feature to be used in the ideal case.



    [ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]



    [ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 68
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

    <strong>iPod-European Man



    Rip Mix Burn-Features Popular Vocalists, Mostly African American.



    And the old couple in the Elope commercial are indeed using the product. They play the DVD on their DVD player and watch the movie, the way Apple intends this feature to be used in the ideal case.



    [ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]



    [ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    European man? I think he was Middle Eastern, but either way he's still a 20 something male.



    The vocalists aren't using Macs. The guy in the audience is the user.



    iDVD runs on the Mac, the advertisement was for iDVD not the DVD itself or the DVD Player. You're missing the point of the commercials and you've TOTALLY missed the point of this thread.



    I didn't mean there wasn't any diversity IN the commercials. I meant the commercials only show one class of people USING the products.
  • Reply 10 of 68
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by Mr.Potatohead:

    <strong>I would say the guy in the iPod commercial was either Asian (i.e., India) or Middle-Eastern.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    :confused: Looked pretty white to me.
  • Reply 11 of 68
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    The print iMovie ads featured an Asian father as well.



    The iMac and iPod intro movie features Seal...



    Anne Leibowitz is obviously Jewish....



    Do we really want to be falsely propping up the diversity of our country? These ads are shown in the US, where the population is predominantly white. Sheesh, should LA have ads where half the people are Mexican?



    And besides, the man in the iPod ad is definitely not white and most likely not European.
  • Reply 12 of 68
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    double



    [ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
  • Reply 13 of 68
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    [quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

    <strong>



    European man? I think he was Middle Eastern, but either way he's still a 20 something male.



    The vocalists aren't using Macs. The guy in the audience is the user.



    iDVD runs on the Mac, the advertisement was for iDVD not the DVD itself or the DVD Player. You're missing the point of the commercials and you've TOTALLY missed the point of this thread.



    I didn't mean there wasn't any diversity IN the commercials. I meant the commercials only show one class of people USING the products.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    i don't think he his. however yes, you're right, there should be more diversity; however when we can still count the number of ads for all products on two hands they have to stick pretty close to their target audience... of course i'm only talking about tv ads. 1. more ads 2. more diversity



    i think in general apple is just really dropping the ball on ads, i mean come on- they're sitting on 4 bilion, i'm not saying spend it all on ads, but how bout just a fraction of it... although i do keep seeing the iphoto... why not 2 ads? and run them just as much... theres room for improvement



    that guy was deffinelty not white :hrm:
  • Reply 14 of 68
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    I changed the thread title to "Commercials".



    I'm not talking about the "intro" videos that only the mac faithful get to see. Joe Sixpack doesn't watch MacWorld and he doesn't download a 6 minute movie about Apple's newest product from Apple.com



    He DOES however, watch Friends and His kids watch TRL on MTV.



    THAT is what I am talking about.



    So the U.S. population is predominantly white, is it also predominantly 20 something males?
  • Reply 15 of 68
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <strong>The print iMovie ads featured an Asian father as well.



    The iMac and iPod intro movie features Seal...



    Anne Leibowitz is obviously Jewish....



    Do we really want to be falsely propping up the diversity of our country? These ads are shown in the US, where the population is predominantly white. Sheesh, should LA have ads where half the people are Mexican?



    And besides, the man in the iPod ad is definitely not white and most likely not European.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    hey get this, i hear in LA some of the ads are even in spanish! :eek:



    get a clue.



    you only have half a point, and that by accident. apple is not bent on accurately representing the demograhpics of this country, thats obvious by watching the commercials. they're putting in all the diversity they can afford, with the limited number of commercials they run they have to nail their target audience, not accurately represent the people of this country- so thats what they do.
  • Reply 16 of 68
    pushermanpusherman Posts: 410member
    I'm not saying that it exactly props up the fact that as others have said, all the principal users are 20ish males, i have to note the Mac.com commercial that was pretty friggin diverse (that sounds really funny in my head, but i cant figure how else to put it)
  • Reply 17 of 68
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    How un-PC of them.
  • Reply 18 of 68
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Oh gosh, you really think Apple's ads aren't diverse enough? You're crazy. You get a clue. If it had been the other way around and Apple HAD been injecting unnatural diversity into its commercials, most of you guys would still be bitching about how Apple isn't representing the real market.



    Like others have mentioned, the Mac.com commercial featured people of all ages and races. The iPod commercial featured a thirty or near thirty year old non-white person.



    What's the deal? Should we have 1 Asian, 1 Hispanic, 1 Black, 1 White, 1 Native American,1 Arab and whoever else each in a commercial?



    There's no reason to cater commercials like this, such as having primarily hispanic people in regional commercials in SoCal. That wouldn't be a great showing of diversity...it would be an example of segregated advertising.



    What would you have Apple do, use ads that don't represent the majority of the users? Have Apple use Jeff Godlblum and only Jeff Goldblum?



    [ 02-13-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 68
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I'd never thought about this issue before, but looking back now, Apple hasn't really had much diversity in their commercials (save the Mac.com ad -- very nice).



    As a Broadcasting & Film major (not that I really deserve any higher credibility from that -- just telling you where I'm coming from), I'd say that they need to diversify the product USERS a bit more in their commercials.



    Yeah, their main purchasing force may be 20-something white males, but that doesn't fly from a public relations standpoint. Period. If they want to convert the other 95% to a Mac, they need to represent a portion of all the other 95% in ALL their advertising.
  • Reply 20 of 68
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <strong>Oh gosh, you really think Apple's ads aren't diverse enough? You're crazy. You get a clue. If it had been the other way around and Apple HAD been injecting unnatural diversity into its commercials, most of you guys would still be bitching about how Apple isn't representing the real market.



    Like others have mentioned, the Mac.com commercial featured people of all ages and races. The iPod commercial featured a thirty or near thirty year old non-white person.



    What's the deal? Should we have 1 Asian, 1 Hispanic, 1 Black, 1 White, 1 Native American,1 Arab and whoever else each in a commercial?



    There's no reason to cater commercials like this, such as having primarily hispanic people in regional commercials in SoCal. That wouldn't be a great showing of diversity...it would be an example of segregated advertising.



    What would you have Apple do, use ads that don't represent the majority of the users? Have Apple use Jeff Godlblum and only Jeff Goldblum?



    [ 02-13-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</strong><hr></blockquote>





    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> read my post. what i would have apple do is exactly what they're doing, hitting their target market, not accurately representing the nationalities of this country. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
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