Apple's and Microsoft's 2019 Holiday Ads: Naughty Or Nice? (fastcompany.com) 71
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: In Apple's 2019 holiday ad The Surprise (YouTube, 11.8M views), the reveal at the end is that two young girls thought to have been frittering away time on their iPads have been making an unforgettable, heartwarming tribute to their recently passed grandmother that brings tears to their grandpa's eyes. "This is a master class in comfy reassurance commercialism," writes Fast Company's Jeff Beer. "It's something we see all the time in advertising, where a product of convenience pitches itself as a problem-solver, simultaneously making you feel less guilty for needing it. Better meals. A cool, organized house. A clean house. Screen time. The emotional journey from haggard travel to family loss to inspirational kids, all set to the soundtrack from perhaps the most tear-inducing scene Pixar ever made? It's a sentimental super weapon."
And in Microsoft's holiday spot Lucy & the Reindeer (YouTube, 66K views), 6-year-old Lucy marches outside and uses her Mom's Surface and Microsoft Translator to question Santa's reindeer ("How do you guys fly? What does Santa do in the summer?") after seeing how Microsoft's Cloud solution enabled her Mom to close a big deal with her Japanese clients without having to understand a word of their language.
So, do the Apple and Microsoft holiday ads appeal to your sentimental or cynical side?
And in Microsoft's holiday spot Lucy & the Reindeer (YouTube, 66K views), 6-year-old Lucy marches outside and uses her Mom's Surface and Microsoft Translator to question Santa's reindeer ("How do you guys fly? What does Santa do in the summer?") after seeing how Microsoft's Cloud solution enabled her Mom to close a big deal with her Japanese clients without having to understand a word of their language.
So, do the Apple and Microsoft holiday ads appeal to your sentimental or cynical side?
hey theodp (Score:2, Funny)
Look on the bright side theodp: they aren't teaching kids anything so they won't be taking your jerb!
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I'm voting Clinton 2020. Haven't decided if it is going to be Hillary or her daughter.
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No shit. This is why I still have JavaScript disabled. I'm not viewing ads for this pandering for views fuckery. Hey advertisers, do you have stats on how many views are not JS enabled? If not ask now!
Apple is not a replacement for parenting... (Score:3)
I see bad parents brushing off their parental duty to an electronic babysitting device in the Apple ad, They should be reading books and playing games, not handing them some electronic device.
Re:Apple is not a replacement for parenting... (Score:4, Funny)
Why should bad parents be reading books and playing games?
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Because children become people when they have relationships with other people, not with a fondleslab.
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Because children become people when they have relationships with other people, not with a fondleslab.
/Whoosh
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As punishment
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Yes. Kids whose grandmother just died should be playing games, not looking at photos of their recently deceased grandmother and creating a presentation from them.
You are unmarried and do not have children. Go back to playing video games.
I kinda came here for this my AC chum.
Just because it is possible and likely that people will use technology for frivolous and and meaningless ends it does not mean that it's the only option. Do I think using the emotion of a dead relative to push goods is despicable? I do. There might be a silver lining here though. Even if it just reminds one person that it's possible to use these devices for productive enrichment isn't it worth it grandma?
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My vote, Smart Dogs (nt) (Score:2)
So Apple is a Substitute for Bad Parenting Skills? (Score:4, Funny)
Completely wrong message and just shows you why kids now-a-days have not manners and no skills to interact with other people. Because you cannot parent you have to use a device to tame and calm your kids. Shame on you. Holy Crap what a horrible commercial. Apple you should be ashamed of yourself.
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Because you cannot parent, you spend your holiday on Slashdot telling others how not to parent.
Unrealistic and Harmful (Score:3)
shows you why kids now-a-days have not manners and no skills to interact with other people.
And also they should get off your lawn.
Kids have manners - look back at this ad, it's all when they are traveling which is a stressful time for kids that get knocked out of routine and sleep patterns.
Letting kids use an iPad on a plane for three hours instead of having them all over the place or screaming is not "bad parenting".
Nor is giving them something you know can keep them occupied from not bothering a grandpare
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The "larger message" here is "an Ipad is an easy diversion that works in all circumstances", and the lie is "and you giving up on parenting and letting your kids grow up educated by an ipad and not real parents ain't a problem", so buy one.
Also, it is funny to see someone, whose experience with children amounts to "have watched over nieces for a few days at a time" give advice about parenting to other people.
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The "larger message" here is "an Ipad is an easy diversion that works in all circumstances"
The commercial shows a mixture of on-line and off-line activities. They watch a movie on the plane. Then the girls play "dress up" with the dog. Then they take some photos and put together a slide show. The parents are using technology appropriately and responsibly.
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The "larger message" here is "an Ipad is an easy diversion that works in all circumstances", and the lie is "and you giving up on parenting and letting your kids grow up educated by an ipad and not real parents ain't a problem", so buy one.
Also, it is funny to see someone, whose experience with children amounts to "have watched over nieces for a few days at a time" give advice about parenting to other people.
I'm a father of two (2yo & 5yo) and pretty much agree with everything in the post by SuperKendall. There's nothing wrong with electronic devices, but as you (Ton) point out, the job of a commercial is to sell things, not provide proper parenting.
As it is, the kids both use electronic devices from time to time. Sometimes their usage is limited. Sometimes parents get busy and find the tablet discarded while the kids went off to find other things to play with. Sometimes they veg in front of the TV, and
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Your kids are special.
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Kids need to learn how to cope without an electronic babysitter in their hands.
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Kids need to learn how to cope without an electronic babysitter in their hands.
Yeah because the current batch of "adults" is so well adjusted.
Re: Unrealistic and Harmful (Score:2)
They are coping with their grief, by creating a memorial to their beloved late grandmother.
I donâ(TM)t see the âoebabysittingâ angle at all. They are creating original, and likely psychologically helpful, content. They are not sitting there zoning-out watching YouTube or playing games.
Appleâ(TM)s ad is 100% on-point, and in no way represents bad parenting or anything of the sort.
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I see a lot of armchair parents here on Slashdot who obviously have no clue what it is like to deal with multiple kids for an ongoing basis
As a father, I was a bit concerned over how frequently and quickly the video showed the parents handing over an iPad instead of engaging their kids. But it's an Apple commercial -- there wasn't any point in them showing times when the parent decided to sit down and read a book or build a fort instead.
Unfortunately, as you've pointed out portrayals like this tend to bring out the "parent your kids!" crowd who have never had to deal with the practical issues of having kids. Sometimes you need to cook dinner
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I see a lot of armchair parents here on Slashdot who obviously have no clue what it is like to deal with multiple kids for an ongoing basis
As a father, I was a bit concerned over how frequently and quickly the video showed the parents handing over an iPad instead of engaging their kids. But it's an Apple commercial -- there wasn't any point in them showing times when the parent decided to sit down and read a book or build a fort instead.
Unfortunately, as you've pointed out portrayals like this tend to bring out the "parent your kids!" crowd who have never had to deal with the practical issues of having kids. Sometimes you need to cook dinner, and need to keep your kids occupied for a bit so they're not underfoot. Sometimes you need to put in that load of laundry. Sometimes you need to take an important phone call. And sometimes you need to take a shit. It's not possible for any one adult to do all of the chores required of being a parent, along with self-care, and be able to entertain your kids at the same time. It's hardly bad parenting to say "I need to do something else right now, and I need something to keep the kids safe and occupied while I do it".
You can't be your kids entertainer 100% of their waking day. Sometimes as an adult you have other stuff that needs to get done.
Yaz
Yeah when i was kid it was "go outside and play". Same difference. But I did end up having a lot of "actual reality" adventures. I had the Atari 2600 when I was 6, I grew up in a poor neighborhood. So I was popular. We spent a lot of time playing video games, but at that time the majority of time was still "go play outside"
The Ipad is the modern day equivalent of "go play outside" for days when it isn't nice outside or outside isn't an option. Actual parent of 3 , oldest in 3rd year of college youngest i
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No kidding. Kids do not raise their caps to their seniors, nor do they rise from their chair when an elderly person enters the room! In fact...
"I find by sad Experience how the Towns and Streets are filled with lewd wicked Children, and many Children as they have played about the Streets have been heard to curse and swear and call one another Nick-names, and it would grieve ones Heart to hear what bawdy and filthy Communications proceeds from the Mouths of such..."
- Robert Russel, 1695
Apple ad seems more real (Score:2)
I don't have kids myself, but from time with young nieces and nephews around the ages of the girls in the ad, I really think the Apple one will speak more to parents.
I don't think it's misleading to play up the creative potential of a tablet because a lot of kids do use them to do art or pictures or video with...
The Microsoft one was to me a little more like just a traditional ad, and to me seems a way more limited appeal - how many people really need real time translation? It's a cool feature to be sure b
Re: Apple ad seems more real (Score:2)
Re: Apple ad seems more real (Score:2)
Yeah, I think that there is a good reason why Steve Jobs didn't let his kids have one of these. They'll mindlessly stare at it for hours watching YouTube and playing Homescapes on it if you let them.
ads (Score:1)
Lol Microsoft is so irrelevant (Score:2)
Amazing how Ballmer was so asleep at the wheel.
Cynical... (Score:2)
Elephant in the room? (Score:1)
Amazon!!
Or what that so obvious, it was already implied?
Or did The Bezos mind-tell you to not say it, before beaming back to planet Bezos again? ;)
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Bezos did not mind-tell me anything.
On a completely unrelated topic, this brand-new, free Amazon Fire tablet is amazing! Thanks Bezos!
They don't sway me, personally ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think because I've worked in I.T. for almost 30 years now, I feel pretty confident I already know what I get for my money from any of these devices. I'm pretty darn familiar with the pros and the cons, and how they change things if you give one to one of your kids or other family members.
With Apple's commercial though? I get the idea it starts out trying to set the viewer up with the idea that they "already know what's happening here; just another lame attempt to sell an iPad as a substitute babysitter for the kids", and then it pivots to the surprise. Turns out the devices aid in the kids being creative and inspirational, as they leverage the technology to interact with the family in a meaningful way.
That's not a bad sales pitch either. But the truth is, it all depends on your kid(s) and their motivations for using a tablet. If you don't steer them towards apps that encourage that kind of creativity, they may just see one as another screen to watch cartoons on, or as another portable game console. Too many parents buy these things and think their kids will just automatically do great things with them, because they're "part of this new generation that understands computers". It really doesn't work that way at all.
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When I was growing up, we made figurines from soft wood with a small pocket knife at that age. Stuffed animals were even easier, a piece of cloth, scissors, a needle, thread and some cotton. A few wool strands for hair and old buttons for the eyes and the nose. What kind of "specialized equipment" are you talking about?
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What you fail to understand is that turning those single shots into a movie used to require specialized equipment. Nobody's talking about technical problems of taking a lot of single shots.
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You need more than "patience and planning". How do you turn your dozens, hundreds of photos into a video? Say, from kodak film to VHS for example?
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I remember back in 3rd grade, back when a computer really was spinning magtape and blinkenlights in a special room, we used to make 2 frame animations by cutting a strip of paper and folding it. Then draw a picture in the face, then rolling the top "page" up and drawing the second frame on the second "page". You could then slide a pencil through the rolled up page and animate the picture by rapidly wiggling the pencil. For longer animations, you could make a flip book.
By high school, we were doing animation
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Stop motion videos have been cheap since the invention of the cheap tethered digital camera. That's been some while. I got my first cheap digital camera some twenty years ago now, and it came with a [serial] cable. While that's not spectacularly long ago, it is nearly three times your daughter's age, anyway.
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Indeed, once your photos are in a computer, turning them into a video is a trivial problem at best.
Do kids even need much steering though... (Score:2)
Kids today are naturally motivated to create now. They want to make youtube channels and movies and take photos...
I do agree with you it's a good idea to guide them in this direction as much as possible, but at this point it seems like there are some very clear channels kids will naturally go down anyway even if you are more hands off.
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Too many parents buy these things and think their kids will just automatically do great things with them, because they're "part of this new generation that understands computers". It really doesn't work that way at all.
What's weird is why they would think that. Us old farts built all this stuff, and still build it. Kids use it. Big difference.
There was maybe a period in the 70s and 80s when "boy, those kids on average sure understand those computer thingies way better than us fuddy old people, woo!" made some kind of sense. It's an outdated meme.
A heartwarming tribute to the deceased? (Score:1)
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It's what the whole world is being reduced to. What's more, the ads have to be presented cynically now to get some people to pay attention to them, like all of the astroturfing for Spirit airlines on the late night talk shows. They say bad things about them... But they do it every other night or so, so you keep hearing their name, and you're laughing, so it associates their name with feeling good. The jokes are throwaways, so you don't remember them, just laughing along with their name.
I don't buy stuff bas
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Who the fucks want to sleep on a bed of money anyway? It's either metal coins or flat pieces of paper. That can't be comfortable. And when you spend that money, you have to sleep on the floor. Being rich must suck!
Idea for another heart-warming ad (Score:1)
Ads are going to ad (Score:1)
Your ability to block, not buy, walk away from the branding and brands.
To tell the world all about the support for long term support for Communist China, PRISM, the NSA, GCHQ...
Haven't seen them -- won't see them (Score:2)
I haven't seen these ads. Nor do I or do anything where I am likely to see these ads. As far as I am concerned they are a total waste of money. If I did happen to have ads thrust in front of me contrary to my wishes, I would never purchase the product advertised.
However, it is nice that a bunch of persons made money from creating this crap so they can eat turkey and buy Christmas presents for their kids. It is better than simply taking the money and burning it -- and it is more environmentally friendly!
They were both nice - but not the iPhone ad (Score:1)
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ZLkx/a... [ispot.tv]
What are ads? (Score:1)
It is weird to me, that soembody would assume, that on a website for nerds, there would be anyone who has seen those ads. But maybe it isn't a site for nerds anymore.
I don't a TV anymore since 2004. Everyone I know who has one, uses it for movies and games. It is rarely turned on at all.
Ad blockers are the standard for browsers. OK, some of that is due to me installing it for everyone, since I'm the local computers guy for older people around here. I also run an anonymous ad blocking name server for their p
Advertising ploys (Score:1)
What kind of morom watches ads? (Score:1)
Luckily there are no ads on the Internet. numbnuts
I feel that... (Score:2)
if MS can get voice translation done as well as advertised, then windows 10 voice to text should work so much better than hearing "I have to write a letter" and spitting out "I hate out fight a jet setter". Honestly, it's like a chimpanzee with a keyboard.
Why do people pay attention to ads? (Score:1)