KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Apple’s latest advertisement, “The Underdogs: OOO (Out Of Office) | Apple at Work”, is drawing criticism from the Thais for its unflattering portrayal of the country.
According to Khaosod English, the advertisement, filmed in Thailand left many commentators aggrieved. While it featured Thai elements such as food, clothing, and public transport, netizens felt that it was discriminatory with the advertisement’s use of old-fashioned colour tone, outdated settings, and difficult travel conditions, framing Thailand as a third-world country.
The 9.57-minute advertisement, follows a narrative where Apple describes: “Join Apple at Work for one heck of a business trip as the Underdogs head to Thailand to get stuff made! See Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro come together to help them find a new packaging factory, solve last-minute design changes, create prototypes, break down language barriers, and so much more.”
Khaosod reported that English teacher, David William, who has 1.6 million Facebook followers and 2.9 million TikTok followers, and long-time resident of Thailand, had posted a critical video of the ad on his TikTok account @davidwilliamdw. The video has since drawn over 9.7 million views and more than 10,000 comments.
@davidwilliamdw ทำไม Apple ต้องทำให้บ้านเราดูแย่ขนาดนี้? #ข่าว #apple #thailand
original sound - David William - David William
William was reported as stating that “Apple’s ad filmed in Thailand makes Thai people look terrible in the world’s eyes.
“I want to ask Apple and their team, what’s wrong? You came all the way to Thailand, but sorry, it doesn’t look like this at all. Watching it, I wondered if this was Thailand 50 or 70 years ago. Why isn’t there any modernity?
In the video everything seems dated from the airport to transportation.
“What Apple should know is that Thai people already feel looked down upon globally.
“Foreigners already tend to discriminate against us. The question is, was it necessary for you to add to this? Allow me to say, it’s not nice at all,” William said in his TikTok post.
