Ad 'crushes' creativity symbols, offends netizens: Apple apologises
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California: Tech giant Apple released a commercial recently to promote its iPad Pro model, but the ad featured musical instruments and other symbols of creativity being crushed, leading to severe criticism. Apple has come with an apology and said that they “missed the mark” with the video, Ad Age magazine reported.
Apple told the magazine on Thursday that the company’s goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. The smartphone maker also said they were sorry.
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. pic.twitter.com/6PeGXNoKgG
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 7, 2024
However, an Apple spokesperson declined Reuters’ request for comments and directed the news agency’s inquiries to the Ad Age report.
The advertisement, which is there on Apple’s YouTube channel, has more than a million views and was shared by Apple CEO Tim Cook on the social media platform X. The video, titled “Crush”, features an array of creative tools and objects, including camera, guitar, piano, etc., were destroyed under an industrial crusher.
In the next shot, the crusher reveals the new iPad, the new thinner model.
Netizens came down heavily over the ad, calling it insensitive, and said that it was an unwelcome departure from the company’s historic positioning of its brand as nonconformist, human-friendly and an antidote to a dystopian and colourless world, Reuters reported.
Hollywood’s veteran actor Hugh Grant posted on X that the ad showed the destruction of human experience, thanks to Silicon Valley.
It was on Tuesday that the tech giant unveiled the tablet, which boasts its new chip for artificial intelligence computing, Apple’s initiative in its race to dominate technology upon its rivals.
Regarding the new iPad Pro, which is available for ordering since Thursday, Apple upgraded its display and is the thinnest Apple product ever made, the tech giant said.