Apple’s ad that was aimed at showing off its new iPad Pro - the thinnest and most powerful yet, per the company - went viral on social media, drawing flak from creatives. Following criticism from the very quarter the product was aimed at, the company said, it “was sorry”, per a report by Ad Age.
Apple VP for Marketing, Tor Myhren, told the outlet, “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
However, the apology was placed behind the outlet’s partial paywall and was not officially published on Apple’s channels at the time.
During the May 7 event, Apple announced its thinnest iPad yet, which will be powered by its latest generation chip: M4.
Marking the product’s launch, CEO Tim Cook shared an ad online, titled ‘Crush,’ showing a giant hydraulic press systematically crushing a colourful assortment of musical instruments, cameras, art supplies, nostalgic games, notebooks, and even soft toys, to leave only the new iPad Pro in their place.
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The slowed visuals zoomed in on shattering camera lenses, paint oozing from warped jars, the innards of a guitar exploding, a piano breaking down, books being blown to bits, and even a nervous ball-shaped emoji trying to escape the carnage but instead being flattened until its eyes popped out of its head.
When the hydraulic press rises again, only the iPad Pro is revealed to be there.
“Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created, the most advanced display we’ve ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create,” posted Cook on X when sharing the ad, which garnered over 40 million views in two days.
Videos of hydraulic press machines crushing objects are a major trend on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, with users often reacting in dramatic and comical ways to such content.
While Apple’s ad was meant to show the iPad Pro’s versatility, its slimness, and its ability to carry out a huge range of creative tasks, many users expressed sadness and anger at the mechanical destruction of so many artistic and musical symbols.
Many were also questioning the need for an even thinner iPad.
“The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.,” posted actor Hugh Grant when re-sharing the video on Wednesday.
Another user presented the ad in reverse, to voice their opposition to it.
Other commenters pointed out the poor timing of Apple’s iPad Pro ad during a period when creative professionals worldwide are worried about being replaced by generative AI-powered tools or having their work scraped for the training of AI models.
