Geek Trend: Apple Advertising Parodies, the Jony Ive Era

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Offering that imitation as a parody allows commentary while avoiding the Wrath of Legal. Spoofs of Apple commercials are certainly not a new phenomenon, but recently we’ve moved past Get A Mac and Dancing Silhouettes into the Jony Ive Era: soft music, featherlight products and dark T-shirts.

The world’s creative types have noticed, producing a stream of variations on Apple’s ubiquitous advertising. SlateV uses Ive himself to introduce one of Apple’s greatest technological wonders, the iPhone 4 Bumper.

Having a British accent is key to impersonating Jony Ive. Pini Productions in the UK nails it with this spoof of Apple launch videos to announce their newest breakthrough personal hygiene product:

“Everything that we learned designing really sharp scissors, and everything that we learned designing really small clippers, culminates in the new Nail Clipper Air” – Donny Jives

The latest (real) MacBook Air ad shows a beauty shot of the product itself with its light, tapered frame, easily held in one hand. This offering from Mike & Gian pokes fun at these commercials with a comparison to that first, non-svelte, MacBook Pro introduced in 2006.

Meanwhile, Conan O’Brien also thinks Apple is getting a bit cocky. Never one to pass up the opportunity for a good parody, Team Coco took on Apple’s slick interview-laden style recently in this funny spoof of the iPad 2 launch video. Yes, those black T-shirts do look great against a white background!

Adam Rosen

Adam Rosen is an Apple certified IT consultant specializing in Macintosh systems new and old. He lives in Boston with two cats and too many possessions. In addition to membership in the Cult of Mac, Adam has written for Low End Mac and is curator of the Vintage Mac Museum. He also enjoys a good libation.