Apple employs unusually on-the-nose humour in privacy ad
Apple, usually an advocate of less-is-more, slackens the reins a little for its latest ad, ‘Clingers’, by TBWA\Media Arts Lab.
Directed by Ivan Zacharias (SMUGGLER), the ad sees online trackers visualised as creepy, chrome-clad figures physically clinging to people as they browse.
The antidote to these shiny menaces? The Safari web browser of course.
Apple’s privacy platform ‘Privacy. That’s iPhone’ has historically leaned into subtle and metaphor-driven humour. Here, the subtext is more overt, and the tone shifts into broad, almost slapstick surrealism.
Recent precedent
We were reminded of Uncommon’s recent Proton Mail outing, which also uses the visual metaphor of looming figures, albeit in a more disquieting manner.
The two ads work because they make a prominent and complex modern concern into something very human and instantly translatable.
Apple’s ad completes the narrative arc a little more satisfyingly, showcasing its product as a more obvious respite from the proverbial ‘data trackers’. When the person switches to Safari on iPhone, the clingers disappear or get “blocked”.
A move away from poignancy
‘Clingers’ is the first ad we’ve covered in this new era. And the shift (admittedly based on just one ad) seems to be more towards light-heartedness.
This might take some getting used to for fans (as we were) of its delicately handled Parkinson’s ad or the gentle ode to hearing loss. Still, the impact is in tact, and we look forward to more.
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