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On Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook proudly revealed an ad for the company’s new Apple iPad Pro which shows a giant industrial hydraulic press crushing numerous items like a television, musical instruments, books, cans of paint, a camera and a turntable – basically anything that is remotely tied to what one might consider art.
Ironically, considering the reasons for the backlash, Cook wrote in his post about the new iPad Pro, “Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create.”
After receiving over 17,000 comments on X (Twitter), thousands of them negative, Apple has apologized for its commercial destroying all those tools of creativity.
Demonic inversion
You say “Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to CREATE”
But the video shows a thousand beautiful things being DESTROYED pic.twitter.com/RnLFqtXVVB
— Jash Dholani (@oldbooksguy) May 8, 2024
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” said Apple vice president of marketing communications Tor Myhren, AdAge reports. “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.”
Wisely, Apple, which had only released the new ad on social media, now says any plans it had to run the commercial on TV.
Interestingly, Apple was once lauded for its “1984” ad directed by Ridley Scott, which launched the Macintosh personal computer during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII and warned against the very dystopian society that many people felt was being promoted with Apple’s new iPad Pro commercial.
Forty years ago, Apple released the 1984 commercial as a bold statement against a dystopian future. Now you are that dystopian future. Congratulations.
— Yuval Kordov (@YuvalKordov) May 8, 2024
“This ad effectively convinced me I need less technology in my life,” another person wrote.
Everything beautiful, charming, and analog will be destroyed by a flat black screen
You must never see a sculpted bust
Never hear music from an actual instrument
Never feel the texture of real things
A silicon slab (and Tim Cook) will permanently stand between u and the world
— Jash Dholani (@oldbooksguy) May 8, 2024
“The symbolism of indiscriminately crushing beautiful creative tools is an interesting choice,” read another comment.
I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for.
— Judd Baroff (@JuddBaroff) May 7, 2024