The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024
Apple's Thailand-set 'Underdogs' ad used a sepia filter to make the country look backward
Apple's Thailand-set 'Underdogs' short used a sepia tint and dated airport scenes. Thai viewers called for a boycott; Apple pulled it and apologized.
Apple · 2024-08
What happened
In August 2024, Apple released 'The Underdogs: OOO (Out of Office),' the latest instalment of its workplace-comedy ad series, set in Bangkok and Rayong as office workers hunt for a budget packaging factory.
Thai viewers objected to the film's visual choices: a sepia filter that made the country look underdeveloped, a packed and outdated-looking airport, low-quality public transport, a hotel room without air conditioning, and a line where a character says of a Thai woman, 'I think she likes me.' A member of the Thai parliament's tourism committee called for a boycott.
Apple pulled the film from YouTube and apologized: 'Our intent was to celebrate the country's optimism and culture, and we apologize for not fully capturing the vibrancy of Thailand today.' Thailand's prime minister downplayed the episode, citing Apple's broader investment in the country.
Why it happened
- A visual grading choice carries meaning independent of the script — a sepia filter reads as 'dated' regardless of what the dialogue intends to celebrate.
- Comedy that plays a country's infrastructure for laughs needs that country's own read on it — the airport and hotel-room jokes were written by people who don't live with those systems.
- A single throwaway line about a local woman can undo a whole segment's goodwill — the offense wasn't the plot, it was one moment nobody flagged before release.
The lesson
Apple's Thailand-set ad used a sepia filter and dated set dressing meant as affectionate comedy. Thai viewers read it as mockery, and Apple pulled it within days.
Aftermath
Apple removed the video and apologized; Thailand's government treated the episode as minor given Apple's existing investment in the country, including a talent institute at Chiang Mai University.
Sources
- Apple Pulls Commercial After Thai Backlash, Calls for Boycott — Bloomberg
- Apple apologises and removes controversial ad — Bangkok Post
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