During Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad event on Tuesday, the company unveiled a new ad for the iPad Pro, as it often does during these events. The ad, named “Crush!,” depicts a massive hydraulic press filled with creative implements: multiple musical instruments, paints, TVs, and old arcade game, music mixing equipment, and more. Accompanied by “All I Ever Need is You” by Sonny & Cher, the press crushes all these artistic and entertainment implements, then pulls up to reveal the iPad Pro.
The ad premiered on social media, and is still up on YouTube, which you can watch here:
It was meant to invoke the idea that all this creative and entertainment stuff now fits into a super-thin iPad Pro, but it was some received it very differently. Seeing all the tools of creative professionals literally destroyed and replaced by a gadget struck the wrong chord with Apple’s indispensable market of creatives.
Several editorials were quickly penned to point out the ad’s tone-deaf nature at a time when Apple’s most prized users–creatives professionals–are feeling increasingly replaced by technology. Social media posts from pundits and celebrities alike lambasted it.
Apple has now apologized for the ad, and scrapped plans to it on TV and other paid spots. In a statement to Ad Age, Apple’s VP of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, said:
“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.”
Apple VP Tor Myhren (via Ad Age)
The ad is still available on Tim Cook’s X account and on Apple’s YouTube page, so the company may not try to put the genie back in the bottle with this one, but rather limit its further spread by canceling further marketing plans to use the ad.