With Apple bringing back John Hodgman to reprise is role as “PC” from the company’s iconic “Get a Mac” ads from back in the day during Apple’s November 2020 event, I thought it would be a good time to go through some of my favorite holiday and Chritsmas ads the company has had over the years.
Please note that these are in no particular order, in terms of favoritism. However, you will find out which of them all is my favorite.
- Christmas “Get a Mac” ads: It’s no secret that a lot of Apple fans adored these commercials from John Hodgman (PC) and Justin Long (Mac) because of how simply truthful they were when talking about the debate between the Mac and Windows PCs. As for the Christmas ones, well, they just made the whole ad campaign even better.
- “The Song”: This ad aired during the 2014 holiday season. What I like about this is the main character in the ad took something quite special from her mother and added her own voice to it to give it a modern feel. It short and gives just the right amount of sweetness for that time of the year.
- “Holiday”: The 2018 holiday season brought this one in. It’s not my most favorite Apple ad just because it doesn’t really imply a holiday of any kind. Just that snow is falling in the background, so we the viewer make the assumption that some holiday is going on. What it does have going for it is the easy advertising of AirPods, a great song by Sam Smith and the unique dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9CYcK3GzIc
- “The Surprise”: When I watched this one last year, I thought Apple was getting back to what it had done in 2012 with “Misunderstood.” This ad just screams marketing creativity really went into this one. The story is a family traveling for the holidays to visit their grandpa, who is having a tough time that year celebrating the holidays and being happy because of the loss of his wife. The grandfather’s granddaughters then go out of their way to take photos, videos and show him through scrapbook made on an iPad that even though the grandfather’s wife is no longer with him in person, she will always be with him no matter what. To make this ad even more emotional, the song “Married Life” from the Disney movie “Up,” which just adds to the ad even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDeRyyDrS40
- “Misunderstood”: Speaking of which, we need to acknowledge this brilliant holiday ad from 2012. This is my favorite one of them all. My reason for liking this one is while his family, in a silent way, is trying to get him to get off his iPhone, get away from the screen and spend time with them, he is in his own world, which I personally relate to. On top of that, it just shows a kid giving his family a great Christmas gift by just having him make a one-of-a-kind video of the family being with one another. It also shows he was, in a way, more involved with his family than what they thought. The only beef I can give this ad is Apple never released the instrumental version of Cat Power’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which is what you hear before the kid begins playing his video for the family. Lastly, let’s also toss in the fact that it showed even back then how much you could do with a device like the iPhone, using features such as the iSight camera and iMovie, to create his little film, as well as using AirPlay on the then Apple TV third generation.
What do you think of my choices for the best Apple holiday ads? Let us know on Twitter at @appleosophy.
