I'll play devil's advocate and ask: how is this different from the celebrated "Here's to the crazy ones" ads? Granted, these ads are more bland and forgettable, but that's a difference of degree, not kind.

Compare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjgtLSHhTPg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=170fh2mvog0

Both are content-free, vague, feel good ads. I feel like all the criticism in the article would also apply to "Here's to the crazy ones", perhaps even more so - at least the new ads actually outline Apple's design philosophy, while the older ad really has nothing to do with... well, anything.

So I'll grant that the execution in the new ad falls somewhat short, but does that simply mean the ads don't go far enough with vacuous feel-good stuff?