Apple apologizes for an iPad Pro ad that was much criticized when it debuted earlier this week.
The dystopian spot, titled “Crush,” features several instruments, including a guitar and piano, being crushed by a hydraulic press. Among the objects being smashed are also balls that look like emojis and an Angry Birds statue.
“Our goal is to always celebrate the countless ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,” said Apple marketing manager Tor Myhren in an interview with Advertising age. “We missed the mark with this video and we are sorry.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook Posted the spot on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday (it was also on YouTube).
“Introducing the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we've ever made, the most advanced display we've ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Imagine all the things that will be made with it,” Cook wrote.
Upon its debut, the clip received immediate backlash, with social media followers asking why the company thought it was a good idea.
“I don't agree with this video at all. It lacks any respect for creative equipment and mocks the creators,” one person wrote.
Another posted: “Crushing symbols of human creativity and cultural achievement to appeal to professional makers, nice. Maybe the next Apple Watch Pro will have you crushing sports equipment, showing a robot that runs faster than a human, then turning to the camera and saying, 'God is dead and we killed him.'”
“It's a heartbreaking, uncomfortable and selfish ad. Seeing this result makes me ashamed to buy Apple products for 19 years,” wrote another.
In a story for THRsenior features editor Julian Sancton agreed with these sentiments.
“At a time of bipartisan skepticism about technology and its destructive effects on society — and, in the case of generative AI, its callous disregard for human creators — it seems designed to offend as many people as possible,” Sancton wrote of the ad .
Sancton added: “All that destruction seems designed to promote the release of… a new, extra-thin iPad, to be revealed when the clamps open again. You can imagine the pitch: “The entirety of human creation compressed into one impossibly slim tablet.” But the end result feels more like: 'All of human creation sacrificed for an inanimate device.'”