Apple has tweaked an iPhone 14 ad because some people misheard what Idris Elba was singing.
Apple used Elba's song called Biggest, with the problematic line being "Biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest, it's the biggest bounce of the summer." When played at full speed, some people didn't hear "biggest," but heard a racial slur instead.
Now, there are no words at all, and Elba's voice is nowhere to be seen — or heard.
The updated ad is embedded above and removes Idris's voice entirely, leaving just the music playing. But the original did have all of the lyrics, which were clearly supposed to point to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus launches being the biggest of the season — not to mention the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus being the biggest non-Pro iPhone to date.
One YouTube video, embedded below, shows how things have changed with the two ads playing one after the other.
It's fair to say that what might otherwise have been one of Apple's best iPhone ads is sorely lacking without the lyrics, but it's easy to see why Apple would make the change if, as 9to5Mac points out, people hear a different word when listening to the song.
Apple often uses music with lyrics to promote its products, not just iPhones. Moreover, those lyrics can sometimes tell a story related to the product in question, as was the original plan with this particular iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus ad.
Regardless, the original ad was shared a couple of months ago, and it seems to have taken this long for the change to be made. It isn't clear what caused Apple to make the change now, although it seems likely that customer feedback was behind the move.
However, Apple continues to credit Elba for the song in the YouTube video's description.
