Apple Pulls Latest Ad Campaign: "Boy Genius"

Apple seems to have discovered it may have made a mistake with its latest set of ads, where an Apple genius assists 40-something men do simple tasks, supporting the stereotype that the older you are, the worse you are at technology. These ads had a pretty big debut: the opening weekend of the London 2012 Olympics; however, these ads have now stopped running. According to CNET.com, Apple's ad agency claims that the ads were only intended for the first weekend of the Olympics anyway so this shouldn't come as any surprise. Apple ads used to be exciting and fun - remember the iPod ads? They were good, simple ads. However now Apple has stepped away from such ads, instead focusing on dull but informative ads on their latest products like Siri and the iPad. Are Apple's poor TV ads really that surprising? The company actually admitted the other day that it doesn't even bother advertising product launches anyway, as all the news coverage and positive reviews sell the product. If there isn't much to be gained from good advertising, why would Apple bother?