Apple on Thursday marked Thanksgiving with its annual holiday ad.
The nearly 2-minute ad, available on the company’s YouTube channel, is called Heartstrings. It centers on AirPods Pro 2 and the newly-released hearing health features included in iOS 18.1 upon its release at the end of last month. To my knowledge, Heartstrings is the first holiday spot from Apple to prominently feature disability and accessibility in the storyline.
“For so many of us, sound and how we hear shape how we connect to the world around us. Yet, people with hearing loss wait an average of 10 years before getting their hearing tested and fitted for hearing aids. Leaving millions unaware they’re living with hearing loss and without the assistance they need,” Apple writes of Heartstrings in the video’s description. “Now with the world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience, you have access to a Hearing Test that provides scientifically validated results within minutes and the ability to activate a clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature on your AirPods Pro 2—right from home.”
Heartstrings depicts a family gathered together on Christmas morning, everyone excitedly opening gifts. The father, presumably coping with hearing loss, watches silently as the muffled sounds of crumpling wrapping paper and joyous voices emanate around him. At one point, he puts his AirPods in his ears as his daughter begins to serenade him with her acoustic guitar as a montage of her as a child flashes by on screen.
The point is, the hearing aid ups the poignancy meter exponentially.
Of course, Heartstrings isn’t the first time disability has played a central role in Apple’s ads. In mid-August, the company released The Relay wherein it showed adaptive athletes in their respective sports. The spot highlighted such accessibility features as AssistiveTouch and Point and Speak in products like Apple Watch and iPhone, respectively. The Relay followed films of a similar style in The Greatest and The Lost Voice. As I reported in August, all three films “aim to telegraph the message that (a) those in the disability are as human as, and as capable as, able-bodied people; and (b) Apple’s products indeed are eminently accessible.” Those words remain apt descriptors for Heartstrings as well, just for earbuds.
Apple has information on the hearing aid function on its website.
Apropos of Black Friday, AirPods Pro 2 are $154 on Amazon right now.