Apple ads are always emotional, energetic and dynamic in an attempt to capture the user’s attention and evoke good feelings. A good advertisement shows the benefits of a product and entices the viewer to seek information about it. One of the first announcements Apple showed regarding the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus was the so-called “Grower and bigger”. At the time of the launch of the announcement thousands of users started complaining due to the confusion generated by part of the lyrics of the song chosen for the announcement as it could be mistaken for a racial slur widely used in America. month later, Apple removed the voice to keep only the instrumental in this announcement.
Misinterpreted word ‘Bigger’ results in voice removed from iPhone 14 ad
The song chosen by Apple to be in the background in the “Big and Bigger” commercial is Biggest by Idris Elba. The purpose of the announcement is none other than highlight the virtues of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in its two modalities. The large standard model, but the much larger Plus model. However, there is a part of the song where the following verse is sung repeatedly:
Bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bounce
Although at first glance there does not seem to be a problem, if we listen to the announcement and the song itself, it can cause problems. Because? because it is confused with the word Negro. For many African Americans, this English word is unpronounceable and they call it “the N-word”. It is nothing more or less than a racial slur that continues to be used in America today. The story dates back to the 18th century when white Americans used it to refer to African Americans, usually in racist terms and in violent behavior, lynching, etc. it indirectly generated an implicit threat to the use of this word. You can see the original ad in a reaction like this on YouTube.
When this announcement was first heard, the community was outraged because they heard the word Negro in an Apple ad. It was surprising because we know that Apple always pays great attention to the music chosen, to the image it wants to give and which it takes care of and, above all, to the great collaboration that the Big Apple maintains with minorities. This caused a lot of turmoil in the networks.
To finish, two months later, Apple removed the voice from the ad leaving only the instrumental. However, there was no official reaction from Cupertino. But it is clear that the meaning of its elimination is none other than the adaptation of the real problem to Apple standards. The ad currently available is as follows:
