Apple’s climate change video with Octavia Spencer is criticized
An Apple short film that cast Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer as Mother Nature and in which she berates CEO Tim Cook was met with scorn and ridicule for calling the tech giant’s carbon footprint “greenwashing.”
The five-minute skit aired on Tuesday during Apple’s highly publicized unveiling of its latest product line, including the iPhone 15.
In the clip, Cook and his Apple employees wait for Spencer’s arrival in a conference room at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Spencer, the star of hit films like “Hidden Figures” and “The Shape of Water,” then quickly introduces the group to Apple’s green initiatives.
“Let’s get to it,” she says to Cook. “In 2020, you pledged to bring Apple’s entire carbon footprint to zero by 2030.”
“Henry David Thoreau said here, ‘We have a great opportunity to build a more sustainable future for the planet we share,'” Mother Nature adds, quoting Cook, who, after her reference to the famous naturalist and author of “” Forest.”
In response, executives run down a list of steps the tech giant has taken toward carbon neutrality, including eliminating plastic from its packaging and running on clean energy.
“Our goal is to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere,” one employee tells Mother Nature.
Cook then chimes in: “As you can see, we have innovated and retooled almost every part of our process to reduce our impact on the planet,” Cook adds. “But there is still a lot to do.”
The reaction on social media was devastating.
“Apple’s ‘Mother Nature’ sketch was complete idiot,” wrote X user Steven Sinofsky. “It’s greenwashing, but the green thing is… profit.”
“We are reaching a level of corporate crisis that was previously considered impossible,” added user Laura Wendel, a startup founder.
Another
“If only you believed in innovation as much as you believe in leftist tropes,” another X user wrote.
The Apple boss’s acting skills were also mocked.
“Tim Cook needs to stay away from acting and all Apple events,” one X user wrote.
The Post has reached out to Apple for comment.
