Apple has kicked off an ad campaign to promote key privacy features, aimed to convince people to pick an iPhone.
Themed ‘Data Auction’, where an auctioneer is selling user data, the ad highlights how people are losing their personal data through various resources, including messages, emails, and browser history. The ad campaign portrays Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection and App Tracking Transparency as some inbuilt features to help protect data tracking.
The ad begins with an introduction to the protagonist, Ellie, whose data has been put under the hammer. The auctioneer puts different Ellie’s data, including her purchase history, emails, contacts, location data, text messages, and browser history on sale.
Advertisers capture data from various resources to grasp user patterns. The Cupertino-based tech giant claims that its products and features were designed in a way to “minimise how much of your data” anyone can access.
The ad, the second after last year’s privacy campaign, shows Ellie turn on App Tracking Transparency by asking apps to “not track” activity for sharing with data brokers. The feature was introduced in April 2021.
The new campaign has started running in 24 countries and will be translated in languages other than English in other select markets to reach a larger audience. The company will also place billboards in every country where the ad is running.
Despite Apple’s promotional blitz, the offerings are not foolproof and could still allegedly allow developers to track user data.
The ad also shows Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection feature that, the company claims, can protect information such as IP address and other data while sending emails. It works with the preloaded Mail app on iPad, iPhone, and Mac devices.
Apple also has features — Location Services privacy controls and Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari — that were recently introduced to enhance iPhone users’ privacy concerns.
The recent privacy updates have helped Apple expand its iPhone market and also grow its advertising business with new clients approaching the company to serve ads to iPhone users.
