“Everyone else seems to love it,” Jennifer Rooney writes for Forbes. “It is being referred to as ‘endearing’ and ‘touching,’ eliciting a ‘merry little cry.’ It will ‘tug at heartstrings,’ even. It’s a new commercial for Apple’s iPhone 5s and its AirPlay technology.”
“I caught it on TV last night, and I couldn’t disagree more. It’s called ‘Misunderstood,’ as in misunderstood teenager,” Rooney writes. “I found it depressing, upsetting, and a sad commentary on our social-, video- and image-obsessed culture. The goal, of course, was to market the wonder of the iPhone using the element of surprise: show a seemingly slacker teen disengaged from the goings-on of family life, his eyeballs glued to his iPhone – save for very fleeting moments – suddenly reveals to stunned family members a touching video he’d made of their Christmas merriment. That he’d been creating all day.”
“The problem is that while he was creating, he wasn’t really living the day, he was a mere voyeur during it,” Rooney writes. “The message? Life is better through video. Don’t live life, tape it… Are we happy that this year’s Thanksgiving and Hanukkah was Instagram’s busiest ever? This commercial glorified that reality. And I don’t think it is a positive message.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re of two minds on this one:
“Misunderstood,” indeed.
Or:
Rooney does have a point worth thinking about. In fact, over the past year or so, we’ve taken to NOT recording our childrens’ dance recitals, skiing trips, concerts, and everything else precisely because we found that we couldn’t really remember very well what happened. There’s a time and a place to record video and shoot stills, but it’s definitely not all the time.
We’ve gone back to experiencing the moment with our organic hardware instead of holding an iPhone between our eyeballs and life.
You should, too.
The ad is an interesting spot, but there’s something flawed if it leaves some thinking, “But, he missed Christmas Day!”
(And, we only called it “touching” because it worked on multiple levels.)
Related article:
Apple debuts touching new ‘Happy Holidays’ TV ad (with video) – December 16, 2013
Truly over thinking an ad about a kid making his family and more importantly his mother & grandmother a wonderful gift of observation and love.
People are different. Some young boys are actually somewhat reclusive and find gatherings awkward. They don’t need to be pushed, just allowed to blossom on their own way. If to film is what they choose, that is their choice. Who says there’s only one way to enjoy life? Who made the rules of what “living” is? Is this really any different from the person who chooses to work in the kitchen all day to provide dinner for others at times like Thanksgiving and Christmas? Choosing what we enjoy is what life is about.
Having owned a video camera since 1985, I still maintain that this was/is the best gadget I have ever bought. Decades later, the “special moments” that have been recorded allow my family and me to relive those moments again and again. Without the recorded footage, most of the details of those memories would be lost. How many times have I heard my now adult children say, “Oh, I had forgotten about that…!”
Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but for me, I’d say “Record as much as you can!” (keeping one eye on the camera and the one night on the live action). I’ve never tried, however, to edit on the fly. That usually takes me weeks (or months or years!) later!
Sorry. Keeping one eye on the camera and one EYE on the live action!
Personally, i didn’t like the end , where it ended “Happy Holidays”.
It’s MERRY CHRISTMAS and always will be !!
What many people miss and even I didn’t catch on first viewing, is the photographer in “Misunderstood” is female.
Watch again. The lead is sleeping in a room with all little girls. Watch the moment when the grandma puts dough on the photographer’s nose. He is a she.
What Apple has done, very adroitly, is put a teen character with nontraditional gender front and center in a family holiday commercial. And even more radically, shown an average American family, loving, accepting and then touched by her contribution.
For any LGBT person, this video resonates on levels the average viewer can’t fully comprehend.
Go Apple!!