Apple’s new privacy ad is one big subtweet

Apple, not known for being shy about its willingness to do a bit of trolling at the expense of competitors, has a new privacy ad campaign that’s basically one big subtweet.

The ad, Apple’s first television spot to tackle the subject of privacy directly, opens with a shot of the iPhone and the words “privacy matters,” before delving into a montage of basic actions people take to protect their day-to-day privacy that have nothing to do with Apple or its products. 

The tone of the ad, which will run online and on TV, is lighthearted. There’s no mention of messy data privacy or encryption, just “If privacy matters in your life, it should matter to the phone your life is on.”

It closes with another closeup shot if an iPhone, and the words, “Privacy. That’s iPhone.”

But implicit in the ad, which will run throughout the NCAA’s March Madness tournament, is another message: that other phones can’t be trusted.