Apple issued an apology, admitting that the company “missed the mark” with the latest iPad Pro advertisement. The ad, titled “Crush,” posted on social media by the company’s CEO Tim Cook, shows an industrial hydraulic press crushing musical instruments and other symbols and instruments of human creativity. The ad, set to Sonny and Cher's "All I ever need is you," was likely intended to celebrate the surprising thinness of the newly launched iPad Pro, which is the thinnest device the Cupertino based company has ever introduced.
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world. 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,” AdAge quoted Apple’s vice president of marketing communications Tor Mhyren.
The ad faced intense criticism and backlash on social media for being insensitive and tone deaf. Some suggested that the ad was a perfect analogy for Big Tech’s destruction of the human experience, while others exclaimed that the ad was in poor taste considering widespread fears among creative professionals that AI could replace workers. One X user described it as a “distillation of Silicon Valley’s metaphysics.”
What an incredible self own by Apple, lol—at a time when artists, musicians and creatives are more worried than ever that tech companies are trying to crush them into dust for profit, along comes Apple and makes an *ad* whose whole message is: yes that is exactly what we're doing https://t.co/zDnvZ8GPYI
— Brian Merchant (@bcmerchant) May 8, 2024
The company has announced that it has shelved plans to run the ad on television.