Summary
- Apple's problematic Crush ad faced harsh criticism for its tone-deaf visuals of technology crushing traditional arts, sparking a backlash from celebrities and social media users.
- The ad's timing, amidst AI debates and concerns in the arts industry, added to the controversy and negative reception from celebrities.
- Apple apologized for missing the mark with the ad, stating their intention to celebrate user expression and creativity through the new iPad Pro.
Apple's latest advertisement for its new iPad Pro, unveiled during its Let Loose event, not only drew some scathing comments from celebrities such as Hugh Grant and Justine Bateman, but created a backlash so strong that the tech giant was forced to issue an apology. The ad, entitled Crush, sees an enormous hydraulic press squashing decades of human ideas, development and culture into insignificance, which is meant to symbolize the consolidation of many creative tools into the iPad Pro. However, it is clear that the creative team behind the ad missed the mark with their “tone-deaf” approach.
The wave of criticism centers around the ad's visual metaphor, where a giant crushing machine destroys items symbolically representing the arts, including musical instruments, historical busts, record players and more. This imagery has been interpreted by some as an unacceptable acceptance that technology, mostly driven by advancements in AI, is being allowed to overtake traditional artistic endeavors, and potentially threaten the livelihoods of many people.
The ad as originally posted by Apple CEO Tim Cook on X/Twitter, and on the company’s YouTube account, with Cook hailing the product as “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.” While comments on the video were switched off on YouTube, other social media platforms soon filled up with a barrage of distaste for the ad. Wonka star Hugh Grant was one of the first to share his feelings, saying:
The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, Bateman slammed the concept asking, “Why did apple do an ad that crushes the arts? Tech and AI means to destroy the arts and society in general.”
The intense backlash led to Apple deciding not to run the ad on TV, and issuing an apology for “missing the mark.” Their statement read:
“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,” Apple marketing VP Tor Myhren told Ad Age, an advertising trade publication. “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Apple’s Latest Divisive Ad Landed at the Wrong Time
Apple's "Crush" ad, while controversial, can be interpreted in many ways. While it can be seen as a direct attack on traditional values of the arts and the undermining of human creation in the wake of increasingly advanced AI, it could be argued that the ad is simply demonstrating the ability of the new iPad to contain many creative tools in one small package.
The biggest issue with the advertisement seems to be its timing. Coming right in the middle of a heated debate over the use of AI in entertainment and the arts, the recent Hollywood strikes, which had AI issues as one of their key arguments, and the general unease over AI technology being seen as a form of cost-cutting, the idea of showing everything that the iPad Pro can create mostly at the touch of a button was never going to be welcomed with open arms.
Recently, several productions have been called out for the use of AI manipulated or created images, such as in the opening credits of Marvel's Secret Invasion, images used in Late Night with the Devil, and reports of manipulated images in the Netflix documentary What Jennifer Did. In theory, all of these AI-generated creations could have been made by anyone with the power of the new iPad Pro.