Apple just released four new commercials for the FaceTime video calling feature available as part of iPhone 4. You can see them all here. Every single one of them is an emotional depth charge, so be careful — you’re bound to choke up as you watch. I’m taking a cynical attitude to them because they’ve undermined my exterior facade of emotional imperviousness; I teared up at least a little bit after each of the first three, and have yet to work up the composure to watch the last one. They’re among the most effective commercials I can remember seeing.
Among all of Apple’s iPhone marketing efforts, these commercials in particular offer such an interesting contrast to the competition. Compare them to the shockingly unfriendly, aggressively technical nature being used by Verizon to market the Droid phones. Those advertisements and commercials are nearly dystopian in nature, promising customers a sci-fi-style onslaught of technical prowess. The Droid message seems to be, “Resistance is futile.” I just find it hard to get behind that, in no small part because I’m still a sobbing mess over here from these FaceTime commercials.
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