- Apple’s latest ad features Pedro Pascal and is directed by Spike Jonze
- It features Pascal dancing through icy landscapes and vibrant streets
- The purpose is to promote Apple’s AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation
If you’ve ever wanted to see Pedro Pascal dancing in a red and yellow dreamland, well, today is your lucky day. That’s because Apple has just released a new ad featuring the actor and directed by Spike Jonze, and the aim is to promote the company’s AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.
The spot begins with Pascal leaving a café after seemingly getting his heart broken. As he walks down a snowy street, he puts in his AirPods and begins listening to El Conticinio by Spanish musician Guitarricadelafuente. As he turns on the active noise cancellation mode, his surroundings change to an icy landscape filled with dancers moving in time to the music.
He’s then snapped back to reality when a passerby asks him for directions, whereupon Pascal activates the AirPods’ transparency mode so that he can hear the person while still listening to his music.
He then spies a happier version of himself across the street. This incarnation of Pedro Pascal re-enables active noise cancellation on his AirPods and suddenly finds himself in a bright red and yellow world. As Perfect by Sam i & Tropkillaz begins playing, he joyfully dances through the flowery streets, seemingly restored to happiness.
By the end, he returns to the real world and sees his sadder self. The two exchange comforting glances with each other before the original Pascal walks away down the street.
Highlighting key features
The purpose of the ad is to highlight the active noise cancellation feature in Apple’s AirPods 4. This can cut out background noise, allowing you to focus on whatever it is you are listening to. These also feature a transparency mode that allows some external sounds to be heard so you can conduct a conversation and be more aware of your surroundings.
AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also come with an Adaptive Audio feature that can automatically change between active noise cancellation and transparency mode without you having to do anything. It doesn’t look like that’s in use in the commercial, though, as Pascal reaches up to manually change the audio mode on his AirPods throughout the short film.
The ad might feel familiar to fans of Apple’s original iPod commercials, which featured silhouetted figures dancing while listening to music on the device.
It’s also not the first time Jonze has directed an Apple ad – in 2018, he worked with the company on a short film titled Welcome Home that was made to promote the HomePod.
