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There definitely is such a thing as bad publicity, I wish people would stop using that phrase to make dumb things sound smart. Of all the companies out there, A
by Uehreka 2y ago
There definitely is such a thing as bad publicity, I wish people would stop using that phrase to make dumb things sound smart. Of all the companies out there, Apple definitely doesn’t want to trade on negative sentiment, it clashes with their overall brand strategy. In particular this iPad Pro launch is riskier than normal, given that it has brand new screen tech and is the thinnest device they’ve ever made, and it’s possible they pulled this commercial to avoid creating associations between this iPad and the act of “crushing” things.
Furthermore I doubt that anyone on HN (except like 2 people who will definitely reply to this comment) who didn’t know about the new iPad Pro before this commericial learned about it from this post.
- emasirik 2y agoAllow me to be the first of the two to announce themselves. I agree, though. Although I only learned of the product because of the outrage over the ad, it certainly hasn't moved me toward wanting to purchase one. And I'll actually be in the market for a tablet in a few months.
- john-radio 2y ago#2 checking in. I pay almost zero attention to what Apple does. I'll pay attention if they start allowing Mozilla to ship add-ons with Firefox so I can run adblock on mobile like on Firefox!
- doublepg23 2y agoYou can run ad-blockers on iOS Safari (they're called "Content Blockers", I use Firefox Focus's) granted you're still stuck with Safari/WebKit for the time being.
- john-radio 2y agoThat's interesting! Does it work well, e.g. on YouTube ads?
- emaro 2y agoAnd although it's not Firefox, the Orion browser from Kagi supports Chrome and Firefox add-ons on iOS.
- not2b 2y ago#3 of a vast number: I don't pay attention to what Apple does, choose not to own any Apple products even though I do respect their technology, particularly Apple Silicon; would not have been aware of a launch of a new iPad if it weren't for this controversy.
- sqeaky 2y agoYep, I had considered getting an iPad. I probably wouldn't have, this doesn't prevent me bur it is a point in another directiom. Things like the Minis Forum V3 give me more options and the company knows "how to read the room".
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- zooq_ai 2y agoMore people know about iPad released a thinner version now than before the controversy. Mission accomplished. There is really no such thing as bad publicity. Number of people who will stop buying Apple products due to this Ad : ZERO Number of people who are aware of iPad Thin due to controversy : > ZERO A small number of people shit on Apple/Google/Meta/Amazon all the time for every little thing Edit : HN crowd downvoting a marketing concept. I must be right!
- alt227 2y agoI disagree. I own zero apple products but pretty soon I will be purchasing a tablet for the kids. I was looking at ipads, but this ad and the comments have reminded me why I dont like putting money in Apples pockets. So I shall definitely be buying android when I buy one.
- Uehreka 2y agoI have a lot of Apple products, but my recent work projects on Android have brought me around a bit on the Pixel line; if I had to switch to Pixel I wouldn’t be mad (though I don’t intend on doing that any time soon). With that being said, I don’t know of any Android tablets that match the iPad in terms of quality or performance, and I’ve been watching the market closely for years (I would love a tablet I can do real programming work on). What Android tablet are you looking at?
- alt227 2y agoI like the look of Lenovo Tab P11 or P12 etc
- freedomben 2y agoHave you tried the Pixel Tablet? I'm on the fence mainly because I have very few tablet needs and my Samsung S6 Lite has been wonderful, but I love the idea of docked mode where it becomes a Google Home. It makes it incredibly useful as both a desk companion (love getting meeting notifications and such on a screen liek that), an alarm clock, a digital photo frame, a music player, a quick way to see my doorbell camera, etc.
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- balls187 2y ago“Is there such a thing as Bad Publicity” would make for a good freakanomics podcast episode. My 2c: when that addage was first coined, public outrage was much harder to mobilize. Social media and globalization work hand in hand to make it easier for people to have an outsized impact. Two recent instances I can think of: Budweiser and US campus protests regarding the war in Gaza.
- HDThoreaun 2y agoThe budweiser thing should dispel the phrase once and for all. They lost over a billion in sales apparently
- Uehreka 2y agoI feel like it’s pretty easy to disprove. I mentioned Humane AI in another comment, so here I’ll use a different and more flamboyant example: the 2019 movie Cats. After putting $85-110M into the production of the movie, Universal released a trailer that went super viral and had every person on the internet talking about how terrible it looked. When the movie actually came out there was a second viral wave of gawking. Did this drive tons of people to the theater so they revel in the movie’s epic badness for themselves? No, the movie (which had over a dozen stars and was based on a hit musical that is popular around the world) failed to make back its budget at the box office. For reference (in case someone tries to pull the “maybe it would’ve made less money without the negative publicity” card) Tom Hooper’s previous movie musical Les Miserables earned $442M on a $61M budget. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(2019_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(2019_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(2012_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(2012_film...
- toyg 2y agoThe fat lady has not sung yet - terrible movies often become cult hits once they are "rediscovered" for their badness and prices go down. I wouldn't be surprised if Cats eventually became a streaming staple.
- 7ewis 2y agoI expect the majority of people really aren't bothered about this though - just a vocal minority, so although maybe a bad ad for some, I expect the benefits of the publicity of this ad far outweight the downsides. I wouldn't have paid any attention to a new iPad launch or known that it was the thinnest one yet, without this 'bad' press. If anything, I'd say I'd be more likely to purchase a new iPad as a result
- naravara 2y agoA vocal minority of artists and creatives who are precious about the tactile and aesthetic experiences of using the tools of their trades could also be called “Apple’s target market for the iPad Pro.” So Apple would definitely need to care about the sentiments their ads engender.
- zachthewf 2y agoThe publicity might be a short term win but there is a dangerous narrative for Apple that it feeds: that they are no longer a design-obsessed company that prizes art and creativity and channels that obsession to build the best products.
- eastbound 2y agoAlso: Products version 15 are boring and the only way it generated awareness was through bad press, not features.
- mvkel 2y agoTotally agree. The people saying "but now we're talking about the iPad, mission accomplished!" isn't even marketing 101 grade. Like saying that using the color red makes people think of a stop sign, so they won't buy your product.
- fsckboy 2y ago>There definitely is such a thing as bad publicity, I wish people would stop using that phrase the phrase "there's no such thing as bad PR" is meant to make you realize that there's more to PR than you... realize. It's in the style of something like a Buddhist koan. it's not meant to be taken literally or to an extreme. It's not a proof but it does describe a real phenomenon. You can't reject the phrase without rejecting its wisdom. I hope, on that hill, you don't die as you plan to. Because you are very literal, aren't you.
- freedomben 2y agoExactly. This saying is much like Confucius famous sayings in that you have to think it through, trying it both literally and symbolically, and move several steps forward logically to try and understand the wisdom it is conveying. It's not saying literally that no publicity can ever be bad. That's obviously not true and is easily disproven nearly every single day by current events. It's a broader conveyance of truth regarding the difficulty of getting noticed in a world crowded with content. Even if it's "bad publicity" there are still benefits of becoming more well known, for example. Apple is one of the few companies where that probably won't help, but it doesn't "disprove" the saying and mean we should reject it.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoI don't understand what you are responding to. The GP comment never said anything about "dying on a hill" or being overly literal. They weren't making some grand pronouncement that there's no wisdom behind the "there's no such thing as bad PR" saying. They just pointed out that in this specific case that the bad PR is most definitely undesired and not a net benefit, and that the "no such thing as bad PR" phrase is often overused in places where it's not warranted as a sort of lazy "sure, this is fine!" explanation.
- fsckboy 2y agoone of his other comments did say it was a hill he was going to die on, which is "a saying", as "there's no such thing as bad PR" is a saying.
- 2y ago
- enaaem 2y agoBad PR works on controversial things, for example if someone wants to sell courses to become “Alpha Male”. People who are into that become suddenly aware of it. Apple ad isn’t controversial because people react indifferent at best and very negative at worst. Everyone already knows what an ipad is.
- JasserInicide 2y agoLet's be honest here: people are going to watch the video on their iPhone, fleetingly think "well that's a weird ad, really did not like that..." and then move onto something else on their iPhone. Apple has been untouchable for many years now. Basically Trump "I can shoot a man on 5th Avenue and people will still vote for me" level