Apple has replaced a billboard in Milan that showed a toddler holding an iPhone, as part of its newest “Relax, it’s iPhone” campaign. Here are the details.
Apple takes down controversial billboard in Italy
A few days ago, Italian children’s rights watchdog Autorità Garante per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza (AGIA) decried Apple’s depiction of a toddler holding an iPhone as part of its “Relax, it’s iPhone” campaign.
The campaign, which focuses on the device’s durability and robustness, depicts situations where the iPhone gets wet, takes a fall, or is handled in ways that could put it at risk. That includes someone snapping a photo in heavy rain, someone watching a video with the iPhone sitting at the edge of a bathtub, a dog with an iPhone in its mouth, or a toddler awkwardly holding the device.
As soon as a billboard depicting the latter situation went up on Milan’s via Melchiorre Gioia, the AGIA received a letter from a concerned citizen stating that the ad normalized “electronic babysitting.”
The AGIA agreed, and referred the case to AGCOM, Italy’s communications regulator, AGCM, the Italian Competition Authority, and IAP, the country’s advertising self-regulatory institute, “for appropriate reviews and any potential action.”
Top comment by Rayz2023
Not as tone-deaf as the instrument-smashing debacle, but still …
What they should have done is made it clear the kid had picked up the phone and decided to dunk it in a bowl of cereal or something. The problem was that it isn’t clear enough that the child wasn’t actually using the phone.
Now, as reported by Prima Comunicazione and Repubblica Milano, Apple has taken down the controversial billboard, replacing it with a piece promoting the device’s Find My capabilities.
Apple hasn’t commented publicly on the controversy, but the company’s rapid response suggests it took the criticism seriously, even if the ad’s intended message about iPhone durability differed from how it was interpreted.
What’s your take on this controversy? Let us know in the comments.
[H/T Tipster]
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