Apple’s ‘Life of Dreams’ Has No Room For Blacks Or Hispanics

A screen shot from “I’m living the life of dreams” ad.

By NAN Staff Writers

A NAN First

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Aug. 5, 2014: Some two weeks after Apple’s CEO Tim Cook publicly committed to increasing the diversity of the iconic company’s work force, Apple has released its new television commercial that’s anything but diverse.

It may be Apple’s most popular commercial yet. It certainly seems to have been aired on every broadcast channel again and again. It is all about a touching view of the lives of young professionals whether in the U.S. or anywhere.It is titled “Living The Life of Dreams,” which is the song played to the video images of youthful women and men and their children and how they “struggle” to live a life of dreams amid lives little challenges for the well off. It is meant to portray the kind of life most of us would like to live, and can if we just buy iPhones and Apple apps.

Except if you are Black, Native American or Hispanic.

There is no place in this ‘life of dreams’ commercial for Black Native American, or Hispanic women and men or their children.  It’s all White and Asian in this Apple World. Just like the bad old days but with iPhones!

This commercial focuses on how the iPhone is inspiring change in people’s daily lives. The “Dreams” spot in particular plays the song When I Grow Up by Jennifer O’Connor in the background while various situations with White and Asian parents are introduced where an iPhone is the primary device for different tasks.

For instance, there’s a woman checking a child’s pulse, a pilot consulting her iPhone for directions before hopping into a small plane, and even an artist using the iPhone with a projector to paint a large mural on the side of a building.

In this quick moving montage of images a few dozen women, men and children flash on the screen to the music but you don’t find one black child or parent anywhere.

Yet according to a Pew Research Center Study, 64 percent of blacks and 60 percent of Hispanics owned smart phones as of 2013, compared to 53 percent of Whites. Most are male and in the young demographic – 18-34.
Among individual manufacturers, Apple controlled 39.2 percent of the market (up 1.4 percent since January). Samsung was second with 22 percent (up 0.6 percent). Following Samsung in order were HTC (8.9 percent), Motorola (8.3 percent) and LG (6.7 percent).

So is this commercial very reflective of the kind of Apple the organization?

Apple could not be reached for comment on this ad at press time.

Meanwhile, if you visit the Apple Website and look at their executive and board of directors’ pages, all the senior executives and board members of are White.
Go to LinkedIn and search for Apple.  There are 500 or more managers and executives who work for Apple listed on LinkedIn. Less than 3 percent are black by our count.

Cook said recently the iPhone maker will eventually quantify the diversity of its 80,000-member workforce in a public disclosure.

The iconic company is facing pressure from Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow PUSH Coalition has launched a high-profile campaign to push for more racial diversity in Silicon Valley.

And facing criticism from two major shareholders, Apple added language to its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter pledging to “actively” pursue women and members of underrepresented groups for its board of directors, according to a report on Bloomberg.com.

See the ad here:

https://lybio.net/apple-iphone-5s-tv-ad-parenthood/science-technology/