Relax, It’s Just a Billboard: Apple’s Toddler Ad Sparks Outrage in Italy
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Apple’s “Relax, it’s iPhone” campaign started in 2023 as a series of TV commercials for the iPhone 14. One of the original wordless advertisements showed a farmer using Maps on a tractor to tout all-day battery life. Another showed a crash-test dummy whose iPhone 14 Pro detects a collision and offers to call for help.
Since then, the campaign has evolved into billboards showing the iPhone withstanding the rigors of ordinary life. Examples include an iPhone in a dog’s mouth, a woman using her iPhone camera at a youth soccer game in the rain, and an iPhone resting against the faucet while a man sits in a full tub. All include the line, “Relax, it’s iPhone.”
Sounds harmless enough, right? Hold your horses. A recent “Relax, it’s iPhone” billboard in Milan, Italy, featuring a toddler holding an iPhone seemingly caked with food with the statement “Tutto ok, è iPhone,” has rubbed some the wrong way.
Italy’s Autorità Garante per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza (AGIA), in a response to a complaint, said the ad normalizes using the iPhone as an “electronic babysitter” and referred the issue to three other agencies: Italy’s communications regulator (AGCOM), the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM), and IAP, the advertising self-regulatory institute.
Does this billboard fit the “Relax, it’s iPhone” theme innocently enough for you? At first and second glance, it appears to satisfy the intent of the campaign by demonstrating the iPhone’s durability. Judging by the AGIA’s response, you’d think it was a toddler holding a cigarette.
It’s a given that parents should be involved in managing a child’s time on any device to ensure they’re interacting with age-appropriate content. The dangers with regard to excessive screen time, adult content, and social media are real and well documented.
Dumb phones may be one extreme, and some may view Texas’ App Store age requirements as overreach. Ultimately, it’s up to parents to take the time to learn and implement the suite of Parental Controls that fit their life, other tricks, and maybe most importantly, demonstrate a healthy relationship with their own devices.
It doesn’t appear as if Apple has responded. We’re curious to see if and how they do. Smartphones, fortunately and unfortunately, are a part of modern life. No one is forcing you or your kids to use one. Where do you stand?
