There are two camps gathering in reaction to the new
First, here's the spot in case you missed it:
I am a parent of three and share Rooney's view that our culture needs to be careful about screen time and overdoing it. And I'm quite sure she's not alone. This view has become the parental conventional wisdom these days. Saturday night when you're at a Christmas party, listen. I guarantee someone will bring up the topic of their kids and how hard it is to get them off their mobile devices. Heck, I have a nephew named Owen that my sister calls "Glowin' Owen" because his face is always aglow with the light of his iPhone.
Apple is clearly aware of this negative social undercurrent. Moms and Dads are powerful, after all. And Apple created this spot to address this social issue directly.
Parents assume the worst.
What this spot does so brilliantly is get us parents to think twice the next time we see our own Glowin' Owens awash in an iWhatever. Currently we assume the worst possible wastes of time: he's playing a game, he's watching a video, he's texting his friends, etc. We default to the worst because he is not interacting with us (that's number one), because he's a kid, and because we don't know for sure what he's doing. Apple is effectively saying, "Not so fast with the judgment, Daddio."
Planting a seed of doubt.
After seeing this spot, we will all look at the Glowin' Owens to some degree differently. It may only be a small percentage differently, but at retail even 2-3% is enormous. Maybe the glow in Glowin' Owen's face isn't a waste, but is something productive. Maybe he's reading a thought-provoking article on Wired about robots. Maybe the fact he's texting with his friend right now is really important to him and we should respect that. Maybe he's been shooting footage of the entire family in order to make a touching film that adds tremendously to everyone's Christmas holiday.
Normalizing the glow.
The point is, no matter where you stand on this "too much screen time" issue, Apple, the marketer, has done a great job of starting to normalize the glow. The goal? We may not judge so quickly. We may not assume the worst whenever Owen is a glowin'. We might actually see the glow as one of enrichment, and not only detachment.
Smart, if you're Apple. Something to be aware of, if you're a parent.
I just wonder if my kids will ever read this article on their iPhones. Nah.
