Promotional efforts behind the upcoming F1 the Film, starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, are usually not sitting properly with Apple customers.
In response to TechCrunch, iPhone customers are sad about receiving push notifications providing a $10 low cost on ticket costs at Fandango in the event that they buy two or extra for the movie, which opens Friday, June 27.
The promo, which was despatched out by Apple’s Pockets utility, learn, “Save on 2+ tickets to F1 the Film with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends 6/29. Whereas provides final. Phrases apply.”
Throughout social media, iPhone customers expressed their displeasure about receiving advertisements despatched by native apps. One person famous that Apple profiting from entry to its native apps was an “abusing” entitlement, terming the know-how firm’s efforts as “gross.”
Apple abusing its Apple Pay notifications to advertise its F1 film is gross 🤮 https://t.co/aOEeOESsuP pic.twitter.com/golEasblKt
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 24, 2025
The heavy promotion of F1 the Film, which leverages Apple’s ecosystem, is knowledgeable by the data that its film unit, Apple Unique Movies, co-produced the film and is searching for to generate as a lot curiosity in it as potential.
Apple even created a customized digital camera utilizing iPhone elements to movie elements of the film.
iPhone customers, as a part of the promotion, additionally had the chance to look at a haptic model of the trailer with vibration results. This trailer was solely accessible through the Apple TV app.
The upcoming launch of Apple’s newest software program replace, iOS 26, later this summer time will present a treatment for disgruntled customers, as it would embrace the choice to show off this sort of promotional notification.
The final time Apple leveraged its ecosystem for promotional efforts was in 2014, when it added U2’s newest album on the time, Songs of Innocence, to customers’ iTunes libraries.
The outrage that ensued was so intense that Apple needed to publish a web site exhibiting delete the album. It additionally prompted an apology from U2’s Bono, who continues to apologize for the debacle, saying in a memoir printed in 2022, “I take full duty. Not Man O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook dinner, not Eddy Cue.”
He continued, “I’d thought if we might simply put our music inside attain of individuals, they may select to succeed in out towards it. Not fairly.”
