For the past three decades, Apple has prided itself on being one of the only advertisers to make the justified claim that their product speaks for itself. In much the same way that Irving Penn’s Clinique ads operated, the commercials proudly spoke ‘we don’t need to spin a story here, we’ve already got what we need’. When the need for a little humanity came along, we were given extreme personification with spinning iMacs that expectantly stuck their tongue, rewarding us for making the connection. When an actual human hit the scene, he wasn’t really given a scene, just some more white space. So why now the abundance of beige? With their latest iPad commercials, it’s as if Apple wants us to take a look at their product, then a look at their generic styling, and then come to the conclusion that what we are being sold is, well, pretty generic. Because, after all, what does the product itself have left to say?