Apple Draws Wee Suspicion For Removing Hand Gesture From Korean iPhone Air Ads
Video screenshot via Apple
Apple may be leaning into sleekness with its thinnest phone yet, but in South Korea, the message is now delivered with a much lighter touch. The company has stripped fingers from its new iPhone Air campaign, opting to show the device floating solo rather than pinched between thumb and forefinger.
The pinch pose, used worldwide to highlight the Air’s razor-slim profile, apparently has a very different connotation in Korea. The hand sign has been associated with Megalia, a radical feminist community, and interpreted by detractors as a mocking symbol aimed at men’s anatomy. Over the past decade, its accidental appearance in branding has triggered fierce backlash. Companies including GS25, Nexon, and Naver Webtoon have all faced organized boycotts and public apologies after deploying imagery that critics claimed carried the symbol’s undertones.
Apple removes ðŸ¤ðŸ½ from iPhone Air promos in Korea pic.twitter.com/upkw02kw78
— Apple Design (@TheAppleDesign) September 14, 2025
Rather than risk the same storm, Apple seems to have adjusted its campaign from the outset. On Apple Korea’s homepage and promotional assets, the iPhone Air floats against clean backdrops without a hand in sight, avoiding any accidental association with the disputed symbol. This is seen as a preemptive strategy, with the tech giant apparently acknowledging the sensitivity of gendered optics.
Apple removed the 🤠from the iPhone Air video only in Korea. pic.twitter.com/gjClXjBX1U
— Jack Fields (@OrdinaryInds) September 12, 2025
People are observing that ads for iPhone Air have a person holding the phone between their fingers in Taiwan and the US.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) September 10, 2025
But in Korean, the fingers are gone so not to offend angry incels, who would think it was mocking them for being poorly endowed.
What a country. pic.twitter.com/5XuRts2FfS
The iPhone Air, unveiled alongside the wider iPhone 17 series at Apple’s Awe-Dropping September 9 event, is one of the company’s boldest design departures in years. Just 5.6 mm thick and weighing 165 grams, it leans heavily on its form factor as a selling point.
Globally, Apple has leaned on the pinch motif to emphasize that thinness; in Korea, it has chosen to let the design speak for itself.
They removed it cuz the pinch symbol is derogatory in Korea it usually means tiny p-e-n-i-s.
— Mahendra (@manmahendrasgh) September 14, 2025
[via Korea JoongAng Daily and The Chosun Daily, cover image via Apple]
