Apple Apologizes for 'Crush' iPad Pro Ad, Won't Put It on TV

[antiprotest]

Rumor is that they have also canceled the campaign for iPhone 16 where they'd use that machine to crush people with their bones cracking and organs bursting and blood squirting all over the place, and then reveals an iPhone, representing all the people you can communicate with and having memories of via the device.

 

[beanbaguk]

I absolutely hated this ad, and generally love all Apple's ads. There was nothing clever about it. It's just a violent deconstruction of art and creativity, and emblematic of what we've become as a species. I'm glad Apple apologized.

Absolutely see and respect your comments; But there no need to cancel it so I disagree on the last point entirely.

Should we cancel gambling, adult content, firearms, food or even products because they offend you?

No. Society is about diversity and choice.

Cancelling something because it offends a minority is cancerous to society, tolerance and learning.

 

[Jim Lahey]

I salute your cynicism, but the iPad market is increasing, not decreasing.

Thanks. I'm clearly not keeping up with current affairs. Last I heard iPad sales were declining but perhaps that was bogus information 👍

 

[Blakjack]

When introducing the new M4 iPad Pro models, Apple showed a video of a hydraulic press crushing all manner of creative tools, including musical instruments, electronic equipment, arcade games, paint and brushes, computers, cameras, and more, with the aim of demonstrating how the iPad represents all of the tools condensed into a single device.

The ad was a play on the popular hydraulic press videos that are popular across social media sites, but creatives found the concept to be in poor taste. Actor Hugh Grant referred to the ad as the "destruction of the human experience," director Reed Morano told Apple to "read the room" and called it "actually psychotic," and Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson said it "symbolizes everything everyone has ever hated about digitization."

The upset over the Crush ad led Apple to issue an apology. In a statement to Ad Age, Apple marketing vice president Tor Myhren said that the video ultimately "missed the mark."Apple left the Crush video on its YouTube channel, but the ad won't be running on television.

Article Link: Apple Apologizes for 'Crush' iPad Pro Ad, Won't Put It on TV

We live in a tree hugger society and it’s ruing us.

 

[H. Flower]

Thanks. I'm clearly not keeping up with current affairs. Last I heard iPad sales were declining but perhaps that was bogus information 👍

Sales cyclically go up and down but overall trajectory is up.

 

[NVDA]

I absolutely hated this ad, and generally love all Apple's ads. There was nothing clever about it. It's just a violent deconstruction of art and creativity, and emblematic of what we've become as a species. I'm glad Apple apologized.

You loved the "don't let me go" Apple ad? Worst commercial ever.

 

[jwdsail]

Yes, I am surprised so many people are actually impressed by the ad. Removing the potential offense, it's just an OK ad. It gets the message across, but nothing especially creative or remarkable about it.

It's a lazy ad .. at best? This was crap. And, the response was predicable. Seeing the cameras and lenses crushed alone pissed me off. I think a lot of people defending the ad either have a weird fetish or are simply ignorant of what some of those things cost, and how many people struggle to afford them. Maybe both.

There are so many better ways to communicate what Apple was trying to get across.

Could have had all the tools/instruments/lenses, etc leap out of the iPad, forming a giant stack of stuff...

Or, could have had someone sit down with the iPad, and use it for some of these tasks, jump to another and another, then show everything they all were working on (finished), and fade to black then fade to an image of all the tools/instruments etc in a neat stack..

Same point (all this fits in here!), better executions.

(My best friend/mentor worked in the ad biz for decades. Days like today I miss him even more because we'd probably talk on the phone and come up with at least 20 better ideas for this ad, and be amazed at how Apple missed the mark completely on this.)

 

[ryanflanders256]

"Your advertisement hurt my feelings." What a buncha cry babies! 😂

 

[jwdsail]

Says who? The Ad accomplished its purpose. I bet a lot more people than usual ended up watching the ad because they were curious to find out what the fuzz it all about.

The purpose of the ad should be, "Someone will be more likely to buy this thing after seeing this ad"

This ad.. does that?

Really?

Really?

Come on now.

 

[diamornte]

recap:
You: "people's inability to see other people's points of view"
Me: "You can see other people's points of view"
You: "You proved my point.

lol 🤣

thanks for the laughs.

going to move on.

Yup. You are still proving my point. Hostile and lack of empathy. Your philosophy is all about attacking the messenger.

Don’t bother responding back bc I am not reading your reply, since it is just going to be the same thing with you. Maybe one day you will understand. I pray that you will be in my shoes one day.

 

[hugo7]

The ad is kinda lame ….

… but definitely does not warrant the outrage it has garnered

 

[truthsteve]

Seeing the cameras and lenses caused alone pissed me off. I think a lot of people defending the ad either have a weird fetish or are simply ignorant of what some of those things cost, and how many people struggle to afford them.

When I watch James Bond ruin another Aston Martin, I don't think "why is James ruining a car that many people struggle to afford", I think about how much fun it is to see how Daniel Craig is going to get out of this mess.

 

[J InTech82]

Apple sure did crush some egos here!

 

[FlyGuyDEN]

We live in a tree hugger society and it’s ruing us.

You’re right let’s just cut down all the trees and dump as much fossil fuel into the environment because it’ll all be fine.

IJFK w/this 💩.

 

[gugy]

The things people complain about in this day in age, it's ludicrous.

Snowflake society we live in. People are just too comfortable. But, this is mostly BS in the West. In other parts of the world people don't have time to waste in this BS because they are trying to make a living.

 

[kepler20b]

state of things:


majority on x:

This ad actually sucks. it does not celebrate human creativity but rather how tech wants to destroy it


majority on macrumors:

this was a great ad! why are people offended about crushing instruments?

 

[CoachRocks]

My take is that people who have at some point in their life created something, with physical media, or who have actually created said instruments were the ones offended by the demeaning implication that the craftsmanship of their work doesn't factor in anymore. And maybe that's the real debate here. People who now create with nothing but their phones, might take for granted the intricacies of tone in a guitar, or grain structure on film. I for one, respect wood. Larry David taught be better than this.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

No, but the anything-goes attitude needs to stop. Consideration for other people needs to apply every day, not just when the inconsiderate people are upset.

Do you normally get upset at props being destroyed during the production of television and film?

 

[bousozoku]

Do you normally get upset at props being destroyed during the production of television and film?

I don't know. When I've been in a TV studio or at the set, no props were destroyed.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

I don't know. When I've been in a TV studio or at the set, no props were destroyed.

I hope you thoroughly research any film or television drama you consider watching, just in case any props were destroyed in the course of production. Obviously you need to look after your emotional wellbeing.

 

[Crow_Servo]

I think the timing in the ad was the main problem. It shows the slow and agonizing descent of the crusher, and you see all the details of its destruction. If it crushed everything in a swift and more cartoony fashion, it probably would’ve landed better. The less time for the viewer to think about what’s happening, the better, in this case.

But who knows.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I took a college communications class in 2001, and the professor said that in the future, there would be a single device to do all sorts of things that we used to do separately. “The device.”
There’s no reason to apologize for this ad. Computers, tablets, and smartphones today are “the device.” A distillation of everything that used to be separate.

The iPad doesn’t replace physical musical instruments. It replicates them but does not replace them.

 

[Apleeseed84]

This ad just proves Apple is completely tone deaf at the senior level on what makes the iPad great in the first place. There’s not going to be a fallout from this either way, but the fact that Tim tweeted this just shows how Apple perceives themselves to the world versus how the tech world perceives Apple in the first place.

 

[bobdobalina]

They can’t take a TV Ad with a machine crushing an office set up, but love to watch people beating each other or beating animals...

You really believe those are the same people?

 

[Poisednoise]

Do you normally get upset at props being destroyed during the production of television and film?

Depends on the context. Imagine a secret agent someone’s needing to get information from, and they realise that destroying the agent’s cello was more likely to get the information from them than torturing the individual. Perfectly plausible. No, I’d wince, but the message would be that a musical instrument can mean more to a person than their own well being, which chimes with my experience. That’s not even close to the message here, which is that if you have an iPad all the other stuff is not needed, arguably worthless. Sorry you can’t see that.