The Apple iPod silhouette commercials are a family of commercials in a similar style that form part of the advertising campaign to promote the iPod, Apple’s portable digital music player. The commercials include television commercials, print ads, posters in public places and wrap advertising campaigns, and are unified by a distinctive, consistent style. Style
Every silhouette commercial features dark silhouetted characters against bright-colored background. The silhouettes are usually dancing, and in television commercials are backed by up-beat music. The silhouettes are also usually holding iPods and listening to them with Apple's supplied earphones. These distinctively appear in white, so that they stand out against the colored background and black silhouettes. Evolution
The original television commercials and posters featured solid black silhouettes against a solid bright color, which usually changed every time the camera angle changed. Some of the television adverts also depicted hilights on the silhouettes using darkened shades of the background color, and shadows on the floor. Since then, various commercials in the campaign have changed the format further:
- One live action TV commercial made reference to the silhouette theme to emphasize its icon status. It involved a man walking past a set of silhouette posters, which came to life and danced when his iPod was playing, but froze when he paused it.
- In October 2004, an advert featured U2 peforming their single, Vertigo as opposed to people dancing, to promote the release of the iPod U2 Special Edition. Because this edition was not white, iPods did not feature in the advert, but the microphone and guitar leads appeared in white instead. The band and the rest of their equipment were in silhouette, but with particularly clear hilights.
- The TV commercials for the iPod shuffle used a green background with lighter green arrows moving in the background representing the "shuffle" icon. The silhouettes danced on top of the arrows as if they were a moving floor while listening to iPod shuffles hanging from white lanyards.
- Following the release of the fifth-generation iPod, two TV commercials, one featuring Eminem and the other Wynton Marsalis, made radical changes to the style, by exchanging the solid changing backgrounds for abstract composite backgrounds based around a main color (orange and blue respectively). The camera shots alternate between the artists performing their songs (Eminem sporting a white microphone, Marsalis' drummer sporting white drumsticks) and traditional silhouette dancers listening to iPods. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has suggested that this more complex composition will be the style of future commercials as well.
References to the campaign's style in pop culture
- MAD Magazine - In the Series of Unfortunate Events movie spoof, Lemony Snicket is always shown in shadow (as is the case with the movie). In one panel of the spoof, he is shown with an iPod.
- In an episode of Family Guy, it is revealed that Stewie Griffin made an iPod commercial.
- SomethingAwful had a Comedy Goldmine dedicated entirely to iPod ad spoofs, such as "iRaq". Again, MAD did something similar in one of their issues. Later, a video was made available on the site of a forum member dressed in black clothing dancing in an Apple store, with an iPod.
- The style of iPod commercials are spoofed often on YTMND.
Category:Apple Computer
Category:Television commercialsMusic featured in televised advertisements
- Cubicle - Rinôçérôse
- Sparks - Wynton Marsalis
- Lose Yourself – Eminem
- Technologic – Daft Punk
- Walkie Talkie Man – Steriogram
- Saturday Night – Ozomatli
- Ride – The Vines
- Hey Mama - The Black Eyed Peas
- Jerk It Out – Caesars
- Vertigo – U2
- Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
- Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
- Rock Star - N.E.R.D.
- Feature Cast - Channel Surfing
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