Frankenstein's monster serenades with iPhone 7 in Apple's latest holiday ad

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in General Discussion
Apple once again takes aim at viewers' heart strings with its annual holiday TV spot, though the 2016 rendition features a lighthearted twist, as Frankenstein's monster shows his sentimental side.




The two-minute-long cinematic ad, dubbed "Frankie's Holiday," features the iconic horror monster limping from the mountains into town, drawing gasps from the locals. Frankenstein's undead creation then screws red and green Christmas-colored lights into where bolts are typically located on his neck.

As the townspeople watch, Frankenstein's monster pulls out an iPhone 7 and opens the Voice Memos app, playing back a recording he made earlier of a music box with the tune "(No Place Like) Home For the Holidays."



As the monster begins to sing, the reaction from the crowd is muted and his voice drifts off as the light goes out on the green bulb on his neck.

A young girl emerges from the crowd and signals Frankenstein's monster over to her, and he leans down to allow her to tighten the bulb on his neck. The two then join in song, which inspires the rest of the crowd to take over singing.

Overwhelmed by the response, the character first created by Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel "Frankenstein" stops singing, brought to tears by the fact that the townspeople show him acceptance.

The ad ends with the tagline: "Open your heart to everyone."




As with other recent Apple ads, the company's products take a backseat to the story being told, focusing instead on how the devices can allow us to connect with one another.

Apple's 2015 holiday ad enlisted singers Stevie Wonder and Andra Day to perform Wonder's 1967 song "Someday at Christmas." The ad shows Wonder, who is blind, mixing music on a MacBook with VoiceOver.

And in 2014, Apple's ad "The Song" showed a younger woman using the company's devices to mix a duet of herself and an old recording of her grandmother. That ad showed the woman using a MacBook, an iPhone and an iPad to create the perfect holiday gift.

Finally, in 2013, Apple's ad "Misunderstood" featured a boy staring at his iPhone during a family gathering, only to eventually reveal he had been editing together a movie to show to everyone. The TV spot went on to win a Creative Arts Emmy for "Outstanding Commercial."

Over the years, Apple's ads have earned a reputation for being at times emotional, funny, eye catching, and most of all iconic, ranging from the heralded "1984" Super Bowl spot to the "Get a Mac" campaign that featured physical embodiments of a Mac and a Windows PC.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    Can someone get rid of Tim already! Resurrect Compaq and send send him back to it?!
  • Reply 2 of 13
    The misunderstood ad was much better IMO. So was the Stevie Wonder/Andra Day ad.
    edited November 2016
  • Reply 3 of 13
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Well it's a good thing it's the 21st century in that ad, and nobody waved a flaming torch in his face or it would have been a disaster as the monster would have gone on a rampage of death and destruction ...
    cwingravration al
  • Reply 4 of 13
    Apple is sending a much stronger message then just let's get along with everybody… What they're saying is we don't want this new president elect to start discriminating against people because they don't have the same beliefs as he does.  And it goes even further it says we are all one people but the main actor in this little play is not really human. All lifeforms from protozoa to polar bears need to be protected from human beings!  That is a responsibility we have!!!
    cwingravpropodjony0
  • Reply 5 of 13
    Typo – word #8 should have been. "than"
  • Reply 6 of 13
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    mac_128 said:
    Well it's a good thing it's the 21st century in that ad, and nobody waved a flaming torch in his face or it would have been a disaster as the monster would have gone on a rampage of death and destruction ...
    Which is exactly what this ad is about - open your heart, open your mind to everybody. A welcome sentiment in this Trumpian age. As for the rampage of death and destruction - its all around us.

    Personally I love the ad, though it is unusually 'white'. It is very like the Christmas movie one a couple of years ago, except this one hardly features Apple products. Instead it strongly features Apple's core humanitarian values.   
    cwingravpropodration allolliverjony0
  • Reply 7 of 13
    Yes!
  • Reply 8 of 13
    paxman said:
    mac_128 said:
    Well it's a good thing it's the 21st century in that ad, and nobody waved a flaming torch in his face or it would have been a disaster as the monster would have gone on a rampage of death and destruction ...
    Which is exactly what this ad is about - open your heart, open your mind to everybody. A welcome sentiment in this Trumpian age. As for the rampage of death and destruction - its all around us.

    Personally I love the ad, though it is unusually 'white'. It is very like the Christmas movie one a couple of years ago, except this one hardly features Apple products. Instead it strongly features Apple's core humanitarian values.   
    Sorry I don't need a lecture from Apple. Just make great products people want to buy and stop with the sanctimonious lecturing. This is one of the reasons Trump got elected in the first place (and no I didn't vote for him).
    ewtheckman
  • Reply 9 of 13
    Actor playing The Monster is Brad Garrett. Nice homage to Peter Boyle (who played The Monster in Young Frankenstein and was Garrett's costar on Everybody Loves Raymond). Also fitting considering Gene Wilder's death this year.
    ration aljony0
  • Reply 10 of 13
    My eyes!!!  
    I must be going through manapause. 
  • Reply 11 of 13
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    paxman said:
    mac_128 said:
    Well it's a good thing it's the 21st century in that ad, and nobody waved a flaming torch in his face or it would have been a disaster as the monster would have gone on a rampage of death and destruction ...
    Which is exactly what this ad is about - open your heart, open your mind to everybody. A welcome sentiment in this Trumpian age. As for the rampage of death and destruction - its all around us.

    Personally I love the ad, though it is unusually 'white'. It is very like the Christmas movie one a couple of years ago, except this one hardly features Apple products. Instead it strongly features Apple's core humanitarian values.   
    Sorry I don't need a lecture from Apple. Just make great products people want to buy and stop with the sanctimonious lecturing. This is one of the reasons Trump got elected in the first place (and no I didn't vote for him).
    I can see why some / many people will object to what you call sanctimonious lecturing. But that is nothing new for Apple. Apple's marketing has always been a little smug, a little sanctimonious in tone, if not directly in in content. I HATED the iMac ads voiced by Jeff Goldblum. I liked the visuals but his smug tone drove me crazy. The thing is that the implicit 'lecturing', is good marketing and good marketing leads to great sales if the products are good. So yeah, generally I am averse to sugarcoated anything but I am also a sucker for inclusivity, outsider stories and underdog stories. Throw them all together and wrap it up all pretty and I just can't help myself. 

    As for companies just making great products and not marketing them beyond hardware/software and specs, Apple is not alone in avoiding that route. The most famous one being the Coca Cola ad, which took lifestyle ads to a whole new level. In fact very few companies do as you suggest. 
    edited November 2016 caliration allolliver
  • Reply 12 of 13
    Well this just shows how society treats people who don't look like them and have different views. Christmas is a lie there never was a son born it was stolen from the SUN . 
  • Reply 13 of 13
    This is the most baffling Apple ad I've ever seen. What's the message here Apple? It's bizarre.
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