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Dear Apple, please stop dancing around the issue

Commentary: Another day, another Apple ad featuring someone dancing. Is this getting a touch unoriginal?

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


Still from new Apple ad shows man in hat with one eyebrow raised and cool expression on his face

Wait for it. He's about to dance.

Apple; YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

I'm worried about Apple.

No, not about whether it can put ever more gadgets into ever more hands.

This is more about the feet. Apple's dancing feet.

The company just released an iPhone X ad that features, oh look, someone dancing. Again. Yet again.

In this case, the idea is that with Face ID and Apple Pay you can just look at clothing items on display and they'll fly off the shelves and onto your body. In an instant, you're turned into some sort of Michael Jackson clone and can even dance like him. 

I'm sure many will find this delightful. I find myself wistfully thinking back to, oh, less than three weeks ago when Apple released a HomePod ad featuring, gosh, someone dancing.

Then there was Christmas. Yes, the one that's just passed. 

What gift did Apple offer? Why, a couple of strangers meet, share a set of AirPods and, naturally, dance.

You might try to excuse Apple by sniffing that at least the AirPod and HomePod ads are about music. Ergo, dancing.

And what else do you do with music but dance to it? (Actually, I can think of quite a few things.)

But this latest ad is about shopping. I asked Apple whether its imagination was running a little dry and will update, should a reply quickstep its way toward me.

Look, this has been going on for a long time. Slightly too long, perhaps.

Remember how Apple launched the iPhone 7 and its Airpods? Yes, with a man dancing on walls.

And then there was the Apple Watch Series 3. Well, of course it turned into a dance spectacle. But, hey, this one featured a skateboard.

Please, there have been more, but the recent spate creates a slightly dulling effect.

I understand that Apple might want to polish its musical credentials at every step, given how strongly it wants Apple Music to approach Spotify's might.

But there does come a point when you'd prefer the company to think a little different.

Is there really no other way to sell your wares than to pay fine dancers and let them express their joy?

For example, Apple used to make ads that were daring and even humorous.

It used to make ads that were talked about for the way they challenged the status quo.

Perhaps that's it, though. Apple now represents the status quo. That's what happens when you become such a large company.

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