Ads on Apple Intelligence stumbles again – why can’t Apple “think differently” this time?

Ads on AI product has failed again.

To promote Apple Intelligence, Apple has been rolling out a series of creative ads since the beginning of this month. However, some of these ads seem very weird, causing discomfort of the audience. Since the failure of iPad Pro ad earlier this year, this is the second time that Apple’s product ads failed its purpose.

Why do tech giants keep messing up ads on their AI products?

Is it really that hard to promote AI products?

Apple Intelligence is undoubtedly one of Apple’s most promising major product this year. Powered by GPT, it’s integrated at the system level, combining software and hardware strengths seamlessly. Although it’s currently only available in selected regions, it has garnered widespread excitement.

Apple has always been a master of creative advertising among tech giants. From the Dear Apple video for Apple Watch two years ago to a series of value-driven brand campaigns, Apple has consistently demonstrated exceptional aesthetics.

There are two other ads in the series. One shows her using AI’s email summarization feature to navigate a work conversation. The other depicts her creating a video for her sister using AI generative tools.

The Bella Ramsey-led series doesn’t have any obvious flaws, although there’s a subtle sense that something feels off. Nevertheless, using AI to patch up these little life hiccups isn’t a bad idea for a creative concept.

The second series, released this month, took a very weird angle: all the main characters were no longer just showing a bit of cleverness, but were instead portrayed as both foolish and lazy.

One ad, in particular, drew the most criticism. The main character is totally an office slacker who does no real work and can’t even write a proper email. Yet, after using AI, everything is magically polished to perfection. His boss suddenly looks at him with admiration.

Another ad was shot in a family setting, where a wife forgets her husband’s birthday. While he’s distracted by gifts from the kids, she hastily generates a video on her phone to pass off as a birthday gift.

Brandon Havard, the creative director for MKBHD, was particularly unimpressed by these 2 ads. He criticized the concept of these ads as being exceptionally poor.

Of course, he didn’t spare the other two ads either. While they weren’t as bad, they were still pretty confusing.

In addition to the inappropriate conception, the ads themselves also raise doubts about their ability to convey the key message effectively.

One ad that highlights video generation as its main feature, has been heavily criticized. The functionality of pulling photos and videos from the photo library, automatically adding music, and creating a dynamic slideshow has been around for ages. This ad fails to show what makes it special or how AI enhances this feature in any meaningful way.

More importantly, beyond failing to showcase the product’s features, this series of ads also strays far from the key message, which is I am genius.

Resolving troubles and awkward situations with quick thinking is impressive, of course, but it doesn’t quite align with the literal meaning of genius. In fact, the content of these ads doesn’t just feel distant from the concept of genius – it feels completely unrelated. Instead, they downgrade the product into nothing more than a trickster’s tool.

It’s worth noting that expectations for Apple’s AI are still very high. Everyone is eagerly waiting to see just how genius a system-level AI, integrated with Apple’s powerful hardware, can truly be. However, these ads seem to tell us we need to manage our expectation – maybe it’s not all that genius after all? Maybe what you should really expect is a few clever tricks?

Where is the masterpiece?

That being said, making creative ads for AI products is really not an easy task.

Although this type of ads is relatively new, we can see that there are two common mistakes:

1. Suggesting that people can be directly replaced by AI;
2. Portraying people as suddenly becoming incompetent in front of AI.

During the Paris Olympics, Google’s ad for Gemini was heavily criticized because it made the first mistake – suggesting humans can be replaced with AI.

Did Google have no idea how to make ads for its AI products? No, that is certainly not true.

Google has actually created many creative ads for Gemini, and some of these ads are very good in terms of concepts and messaging. One example is a video released 5 months ago.

They made a musical style ads to showcase the simplicity and fun of the prompt input method. More importantly, they didn’t portrait the user as incompetent, nor imply that humans could be replaced by AI.

With that said, Google clearly knows how to make ads for their AI products. How could Apple not know? Impossible.

In fact, Apple has produced countless impressive ads, such as the timeless classic Think Different. And every year, Apple releases ads to feature their products. There is a series of short films called The Underdogs.

Literal translation of underdogs is ‘failures’ or ‘losers,’ so this series is about four unlucky office workers in a packaging design company who often run into work-related problems.

One episode from last year showcased the security system. The story is about a MacBook containing an important presentation being stolen by a gang of thieves on motorcycles, and the team must work together to retrieve it. The eight-minute story is very complete, with various Apple products and services seamlessly integrated into the plot, highlighting the teamwork and unbreakable team spirit between the characters.

At the end, these features of the Apple products used by the characters in the short film were all listed as characters, which is a brilliant way to promote their products.

And it is worth mentioning that although underdogs are literally referring to losers, the characters in the short films are never diminished. Most of the trouble they face is caused by external reasons, and they remain proactive in solving the problems. They may be a bit clumsy at times, but they are always sincere and lovable.

The underlying issue implied by these AI product ads

The failure of AI product ads also implies another underlying issue: we can’t imagine a relationship with AI that hasn’t developed into its full form yet.

AI hasn’t yet deeply integrated into everyday life – everything is still yet to come. At this stage, all ads about AI products are about how it can write better, draw better, organize better, and so on. Coming up with a unique idea for AI product is challenging.

In addition, what exactly does doing better mean?

Editing an email, summarizing a long report – these are all good, but can they truly be called better, or even reach a level where people would call it genius? It’s hard to say, and even harder to convey in a short ad of just a few seconds.

However, one thing is very clear: showcasing AI’s capabilities and intelligence should not come at the expense of diminishing the value of its user.

It feels uncomfortable when humans, the real users of AI products are devalued, just to make AI products look attractive in comparison.

Earlier, just before the Paris Paralympic Games, Apple released an ad titled The Relay. While the ad focuses a lot on the Apple Watch, the real characters are the athletes preparing for the Paralympics.

The final frame freezes on the phrase Designed for everyone.

Whether it’s The Underdogs series or The Relay, both ads make it clear what that unspoken definition of better really is. Better may not have a gold standard, but it certainly doesn’t begin by lowering the initial bar.

We are still waiting for a stunning ad that can effortlessly showcase the power and capabilities of AI. That would truly be the masterpiece we are longing for.