BANGKOK — Netizens are displeased with Apple’s new advertisement, “The Underdogs: OOO (Out Of Office) | Apple at Work”. Despite being filmed in Thailand and featuring Thai elements such as food, clothing, and public transport, many commenters feel it’s discriminatory. The old-fashioned color tone, outdated appearance, and difficult travel depicted seem to portray Thailand as a third-world country.
This 9.57-minute Apple advertisement, recently filmed in Thailand, presents what Apple describes as “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.”
However, Thai netizens widely criticize how the ad adjusts color tones, scenes, costumes, props, and featured vehicles to create a dated look. Everything appears backward, including the airport, buses, taxis, and even the executive hotel where mosquitoes are a problem.
David William, an English teacher with 1.6 million Facebook followers and 2.9 million TikTok followers, who has long resided in Thailand, posted a critical video of this ad on his TikTok account @davidwilliamdw. The video has over 9.7 million views and more than 10,000 comments.
He says, “Apple’s ad filmed in Thailand makes Thai people look terrible in the world’s eyes.” Both the airport and hotel look ancient, as if from 50 years ago. Compared to other Apple clips filmed in places like New York or Chicago, which look great.
“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? You didn’t need to come to my country; a quick Google search would show you that Thailand is modern. The answer that would immediately come up is Y-E-S, extremely modern.”
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.
He concludes, “If you’re going to sell things to us while looking down on us like this, making us look bad in the world’s eyes, out of the annoyance in my heart, I’ll run to buy a Samsung foldable phone immediately.”
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