A condescending new advertisement by US giant Apple sparked outrage in Thailand, with locals threatening to ditch Apple and their iPhones for Samsung.

Thai resident and English teacher David William, who boasts 1.6 million Facebook followers and 2.9 million TikTok followers, slammed the ad on his TikTok account @davidwilliamdw. His critique of the ad, The Underdogs: OOO (Out Of Office) | Apple at Work, has racked up over 9.7 million views and more than 10,000 comments.

William and many netizens are furious with Apple’s depiction of Thailand. Although filmed in Thailand and featuring Thai elements like food, clothing, and public transport, the ad’s old-fashioned colour tones and dated appearance portray the country as a third-world nation.

The 9.57-minute Apple ad follows the “Underdogs” on a business trip to Thailand to find a new packaging factory. It showcases Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, all while tackling last-minute design changes and language barriers.

Thai netizens are up in arms over the ad’s portrayal of Thailand. They criticise the adjusted colour tones, costumes, props, and vehicles, which all create a dated and backward image.

 

FULL STORY:

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/bad-apple-thailand-ad-blunder-sparks-boycott-fury-video



 

 

Goes to show you that the average attention span of a netizen anywhere can be increased 70-fold in spite of an overly lengthy under-edited piece actually satirizing farangs. 

Next up, give them a free viewing of The Hangover 2, Crazy Rich Asians, and Joy Ride, etc, depictions that are actually more designed with lampooning in mind. 

Says a lot when a random local ESL lickspittle instructor gets to decide what is outré and lead the silly cancel pack. That’s his 15 seconds of fame done and dusted.

Have you really never been exposed to comedy? It's called farcical exaggeration. Almost anyone could understand it's not supposed to be taken seriously. This has gone back for over a century. Were Keystone Cops really supposed to be representative of real policemen (or making fun of them)?

It's humorous, as intended.

can't play video, it tells me ' Video is private"

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

can't play video, it tells me ' Video is private"

Now it is...A Thai friend sent it to me, I didn't see anything wrong with it.

From Thai PBS World

The Apple company has offered an apology for the recent release of the fifth instalment of its “Underdogs” series of promotional films, which sparked outrage in Thailand. They have also agreed to stop disseminating it.

In its statement, Apple said that the shooting of the fifth instalment of the “Underdogs” series in Thailand, in cooperation with a Thai company, was intended to reflect Thai culture in a positive way.

The ad was not, however, seen as appropriately or adequately reflecting the contemporary Thai way of life, said Apple, as it offered an apology.

Earlier, Apple had suspended the comments section on its YouTube page for the ad. As of July 28, it had attracted 5.1 million views, approximately ten days after its release.

The ten-minute featurette, described as a comedy thriller, featured four company employees racing around Thailand to meet their clients’ demands for design and quantity.

cultural sensitivities can never be underestimated. Often we can easily live with infractions but still we don't like them. I always recall one guy, veteran of my few offs from Tawan who came sporting new hairdo which I liked, aware about touching head taboo I asked if I can touch it and his answer was simple ' yes but I don't like"

13 hours ago, reader said:

...The ad was not, however, seen as appropriately or adequately reflecting the contemporary Thai way of life...

The ad was intended to be humorous, not as an accurate representation of the "Thai way of life." If the ad had used westerners to represent Thais, then, yes, it would have come off as offensive. As it is, it just looks as though people are looking for trouble where there is none.