Apple edits out the hand from iPad mini OLED marketing photos on its South Korean website. The hand gesture where the hand pinches the iPad mini to illustrate the 5.4 mm thickness is offensive in South Korea. The edit is relevant to marketing-attentive purchasers, illustrating how a product's marketing representation can be highly influenced by the culture in a given region.
Apple adjusts regional marketing for the iPad mini to avoid cultural offense in South Korea
The iPad mini is still a small-form tablet meant for portability. Apple keeps the original photo with the hand in marketing for the US and China markets. The localized edit demonstrates that Apple is treating culture-sensitivity on a region-by-region basis rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
The marketing emphasizes the dimensions of the product. Apple was using the pinching hand gesture to graphically display the 5.4 mm thickness of the OLED iPad mini. The removal of the hand from the South Korean marketing photo changes the way the particular spec is graphically represented while not changing anything about the product itself.
This edit is analogous to the regional tweak Apple made for the iPhone Air release. At the time, Apple changed marketing photos for the iPhone Air to avoid cultural offense in certain regions. Apple seems to have a consistent pattern of dealing with sensitive graphic elements in Asian regions.
Apple has confirmed the removal of the hand gesture in South Korea from its website in South Korea. The company keeps the original marketing photo in other major regions such as the US and China. The edit is more of a practical measure of accommodating local culture rather than a product defect.
Source: NotebookCheck
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