Apple removes vocals from iPhone 14 launch ads, here’s why – Times of India

Apple launched its latest iPhone 14 series at an event in October. The original ads that the Cupertino giant used for the launch of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus smartphones included a snippet of the song Biggest by Idris Elba. The audio part used in iPhone 14 launch ads had lyrics from the song repeating the word ‘Biggest’. Apple has now updated the videos on all social media platforms, including YouTube. The launch ad videos no longer have any lyrics from the mentioned song. However, in the description of the video, Apple still credits the Elba song, but viewers can only hear the empty backtrack without any vocals.

Why Apple had to remove the lyrics from iPhone 14 ads
By using the word biggest, Apple may have tried to introduce the larger screen 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus. However, some people didn’t comprehend the way the word was said in the song and misheard it as an offensive racial slur. The iPhone ad was launched in September and the song almost immediately became a viral meme. Apple has finally responded to the issue by entirely removing the vocals from the ad’s soundtrack two months after the release of the ad.

How have the iPhone 14 ads changed
Currently, if you watch the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus launch ads on YouTube, you will be able to notice that the vocals part has been removed from the entire video. The video will now play only the instrumental backing track throughout the whole duration.
The ad scenes might seem out of sync with the beats, but Apple decided to make this change to avoid the unintended confusion of words that was noticed by many.