Apple’s latest TV ad for China features a very different China than its previous ones

“China is changing. Apple is changing,” Josh Horwitz writes for Quartz. “And with that, Apple’s depiction of China is changing.”

“On May 1 Apple released an advertisement titled ‘The City,’ on YouTube. The advertisement features a young Chinese couple taking photos (using the iPhone 7 Plus’s touted ‘portrait mode’) as they eat noodles, visit the aquarium, and wander the streets of Shanghai,” Horwitz writes. “It’s a markedly different approach than two previous Apple ads featuring China. ‘The City’ highlights Shanghai’s cosmopolitanism and appears to be aimed at an audience of global citizens wherever they are… The two earlier China ads, though, carefully highlighted themes for a different kind of Chinese viewer.”

“By comparison, Apple’s new ‘The City’ ad takes a very different direction. It treats China as a motif for global hipsterdom, one equally relatable to jetsetting foreigners watching it on YouTube, and the Chinese with enough money and leisure time to frolic around with an iPhone,” Horwitz writes. “Overseas brands and production studios are also sensing that the Chinese feel pandered to when they see movies peppered with not-so-subtle nods to Chinese culture. ”

Read more, and see Apple’s two older ads targeting China, in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: This new direction is clearly a better one for targeting potential iPhone buyers in China.