Apple is running an ad where a kid asks, 'What's a computer?' - and people find it infuriating
- Apple is currently running a commercial where a child with an iPad asks, "What's a computer?"
- The commercial is meant to predict a world where a computer is extinct and a child with an iPad doesn't even know what the word "computer" means.
- Many who have watched the commercial say it rubs them the wrong way.
Apple's new commercial showing off the multitasking prowess of the iPad Pro and iOS 11 is rubbing some people the wrong way.
After a day of hanging out with friends and doing school projects with her iPad Pro in what appears to be Brooklyn, a child - age unknown - is shown retiring to her grassy backyard. A neighbor asks what the child is doing on her computer.
"What's a computer?" the child replies.
The commercial is meant to show how versatile the iPad is (and, as some tech media have speculated, to be a subtle dig at Microsoft). In this fantasy Apple world, traditional computers are so outdated that a child doesn't even know what it is.
Of course, that's not the world we live in. Using computers are still how the vast, vast majority of work gets done, and the word "computer" is still part of the public consciousness - even for a child.
That fact has not escaped some viewers of the commercial, who take the child's question as insolence.
"Does this commercial tick anybody else off?" writes one commenter on a snippet of the commercial that was posted to Facebook. "I want to smack this kid. What's a computer? You know what a computer is you disrespectful smarta--!!"
Plenty of other social media posts, some with thousands of retweets, have made the same observation.
The commercial debuted in November and is running on major TV networks. Check it out for yourself below.