Apple has taken down a new ad just one day after posting it, making it the fourth one removed in just over a year, as spotted earlier by MacRumors. The nearly eight-minute-long ad, titled “The Parent Presentation,” featured comedian Martin Herlihy giving students advice on how to convince their parents to buy them a Mac.
Apple posted the ad on Friday, but it disappeared from YouTube and the company’s webpage for college students on Saturday. The iPhone maker also released an accompanying 81-slide presentation template that’s supposed to give parents “45 undeniable reasons why a Mac is essential to college,” which still remains available for download on its site.
Last May, Apple apologized for its “Crush!” commercial, which showed a hydraulic press flattening a piano, record player, paint, and other creative tools, only to lift and show its new iPad Pro at the end. It was meant to demonstrate how many creative tasks can be completed with the device, but it sparked widespread backlash instead. Apple pulled the commercial from TV before removing it from YouTube.
Months later, Apple pulled a 10-minute ad, called “Out of Office OOO,” which showed a group of coworkers using Apple products on a business trip in Thailand, after receiving criticism from Thai citizens and lawmakers for portraying the country in a stereotypical and outdated way.
Then, in March of this year, Apple took down an iPhone 16 ad with Last of Us star Bella Ramsey. Apple used the ad to show off an AI-upgraded Siri with features that aren’t available yet, like recalling the name of someone they met months ago.
Unlike the other ads pulled by Apple over the past year, there’s no clear reason why “The Parent Presentation” was taken down — other than some users on social media calling it “cringe,” or raising questions about who the commercial’s target audience was.
The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
