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Backlash Against Apple's Dystopian iPad Pro Ad for Crushing Creativity
Apple's new iPad Pro advertisement has sparked significant controversy and backlash across social media and among creatives. The ad, which visually depicts the crushing of various artistic and cultural symbols under a hydraulic press to promote the new iPad Pro, has been widely criticized as dystopian and tone-deaf. Critics argue that the ad, by destroying symbols of human creativity, sends a message that contrasts sharply with Apple's historical brand identity, which has typically celebrated creativity and the arts. The negative reception has been compared unfavorably to Apple's iconic 1984 commercial, with many seeing it as a misstep that portrays the company as a 'dark tech overlord' rather than a champion of creative expression.
Written with ChatGPT (GPT-4).
Carl Quintanilla
“.. I understood conceptually what they were trying to do, but ... I think the way it came across is, here is technology crushing the life of that nostalgic sort of joy ..” @AP #iPad $AAPL https://t.co/Uvw8VeqPbp https://t.co/RgYP11xXjM
Michael Tracey Wait -- what? Why are people angry about this ad? I thought it was going to be a "cringe" social commentary or something. Instead it just depicts technology getting compressed into a thin new Apple device? https://t.co/FvU86UiHoz
Twitchy Team Crushing Symbols of Human Creativity: Tim Cook Gets WRECKED for Depressing iPad Commercial https://t.co/kCztOg7XOi
VANITY FAIR Apple’s new iPad ad is a neat metaphor for the end of the world. https://t.co/EEe2tPUQPR
spiked Apple’s iPad Pro advert is a terrifying glimpse into the minds of our Silicon Valley overlords. Tim Cook and Co would seem to relish a fully digitised world, where craftsmanship and physicality no longer matter. It’s a dystopian vision, says Simon Evans https://t.co/OAGNUR2IyW
Nik Vassev Apple can generally be relied on for clever, well-produced ads, but it missed the mark 😬 https://t.co/jDa4jUGSJJ
Camilla Tominey Dear @Apple, this advert sums up everything that is wrong with the relentless, remorseless and often senseless march of technology at the expense of all that is good in this world 👇 https://t.co/5ZscTuuk10
- spiked
Apple’s new iPad Pro ad is a declaration of war on what makes us human. The traditional tools, materials and artefacts of music, painting and sculpture are all crushed beneath a giant hydraulic press. This isn’t progress – it’s dystopian, says Simon Evans https://t.co/OAGNUR2IyW
James Pethokoukis ⏩️⤴️ "A spokesperson will no doubt say the iPad is a friend to creatives, lowering the barrier to recording music or producing art. ... [But] if Apple wants to sell to creatives, it needs to show it understands them. As a metaphor, the crushing machine is a publicity disaster." https://t.co/k1MoYRkg0I
Josh Kraushaar WSJ: “Apple Sees Growing Backlash Against Ad Depicting Crushed Creative Tools” https://t.co/1mwOwgBl3A
NDTV #NDTVWorld | Apple Faces Backlash Over iPad Ad Showing Trumpet, Piano Being Crushed https://t.co/3Rp1o7YbkP https://t.co/Er1ghYLMZ4
Laptop MagApple's out-of-touch iPad Pro 'Crush!' angers creatives — here's what people are saying https://t.co/F30g0DhSx7 https://t.co/Pdd32tpPgD
Katharine Birbalsingh This Apple advert reveals the goal of the Tech giants. We must resist their brainwashing, artistic-smashing, individual-crushing attempts. Don’t give your children an iPhone or iPad. ✊🏾 https://t.co/j2QTTvLd2n
Teortaxes▶️ this damn ad reminds me of @RichardMCNgo's vision of popular art in the dystopian future ruled by degrowthers. Not ideologically. In what it evokes: rage. Richard was intentional; I think this was too. Some conspiracy to provoke luddite backlash to AI. Who can have Apple do it? https://t.co/2E5v8FNmw6 https://t.co/IfKcQ44I1S
Adriαnα Vecchiοli 🫧a fleck of my soul died watching this ad, crushed among the beautiful instruments featured here. this ad would have been so impactful… in reverse. starting from the ultra-thin iPad and revealing the plethora of creating tools appearing from dust, just like magic 🪄 https://t.co/pIHLl0QSLC
Daniel Batten Just watched Apple’s iPad ad The company that stood for what is beautiful: calligraphy, art, a handcrafted Leica Camera, now showcases its destruction What’s remarkable is not how much the ad missed the mark, but how Apple became blind to how far it’s strayed from its values
EdmndThis ad was really hard to watch. The entire time I was wondering how it got through an approval process. Apple still makes great products but they lost their way over the years & we're seeing diminishing returns now. I miss Steve. Hopefully WWDC in June makes up for it. https://t.co/uxd4UnDSSJ
Brandon FriedmanEveryone has a take in the new Apple ad. This Orwell quote is the first thing it made me think of: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever." https://t.co/ZzZUVxGX9W
Zak Kukoff The Apple ad is fine but surprisingly misses the hostility of Apple’s nominal audience (creatives) to tech and the coming AI revolution
Tom Warren a lot of folks seem to hate Apple’s new iPad Pro ad. I’m curious if you like it or hate it, and why? https://t.co/O2jwYBrba9
Rohan Tandon I find it crazy that people are hating on this new iPad Pro ad about flattening physical tools into a thin & light digital tool. iPad has changed my life and has allowed me to create artworks I could never on a physical canvas https://t.co/zzQOA92zVl https://t.co/PXEpaW4BN1
Charlie Warzel people are livid (to an extent that i find a bit surprising tbf) about an Apple ipad ad. @dlberes and i wrote about why https://t.co/rw1TYB5XCD https://t.co/VcnhnOSGbb
Neil Cybart Here are my thoughts and observations from yesterday's iPad event: https://t.co/yDy56sbL5g
High Yield Harry Just watched the Apple iPad Pro commercial. There’s people that are mad, let alone care, about this ad?!?
Harry McCracken 🇺🇦✡️ Kinda feel like if I express any opinion about Apple's iPad ad other than unbridled hatred, I will be ratioed out of existence, but....' ...The concept, poorly executed though it was, is that all these things are being compressed INTO an iPad, not destroyed, no? Some of them are… https://t.co/5chc1LVGcx
The Hollywood Reporter Apple's dystopian ad spot, which depicts the relentless destruction of instruments and artworks, marks a dark turn for the company, and begs the question: Will 2024 be like 1984? https://t.co/yaMhjhAVUi
robert shrimsleyThe most telling thingsabout this ad is that clearly everyone at Apple, including Tim Cook, who saw this. Went "YES, that's who we are. We crush everything joyful" https://t.co/Zv1eazyGDj
Bloomberg Opinion Hey, Apple 👋 Crushing human creativity is no way to sell an iPad https://t.co/mw5iORcjK6 https://t.co/vSoMVgWwT2
Mike Solana "how could APPLE, of ALL COMPANIES, have misfired SO BADLY with their marketing?" apple's marketing: https://t.co/xzhXFw4yjj
The Register Was Big Tech crushes life out of creativity and joyful things really the message Apple was going for here? https://t.co/gaQTfas4fZ
- Carl Quintanilla
“.. The dystopian spot, which depicts the relentless destruction of instruments and artworks, marks a dark turn for the company ..” @THR $AAPL #iPad https://t.co/4t5jAi98u0 https://t.co/s3GU5JDmtX
- Bloomberg Opinion
Apple's tone-deaf ad for its new iPad speaks to our broad fears that recent drastic advancements in technology are a grave risk to the joy, authenticity and spontaneity of human creativity, @DaveLeeBBG says https://t.co/GQSyupIp8A
Aaron Ng the iPad crushing video is distinctly off-brand for a company that prides itself on understanding the heritage and history of tools it's not just the iPad crushing video though – most of the marketing from Apple's iPad launch was lower caliber and more off-brand than usual
Sean Davis Apple wants to smash human beings, but figured that might be off-putting, so they made an entire ad where they brag about destroying art and music and creativity and everything that makes life unique and interesting and worth living instead. https://t.co/ZjNvFXnUtY
Ian FaradayThis ad speaks for itself. It's time for Apple and many other legacy mega corps to step aside. A new era is coming. One that values what makes Humanity great instead of trying to condense it all into a cold thin aluminum box. https://t.co/mKcZwYRhod
Robert BurgessApple's tone-deaf ad for its new iPad speaks to our broad fears that recent drastic advancements in technology are a grave risk to the joy, authenticity and spontaneity of human creativity, @DaveLeeBBG says https://t.co/B8ZeRE6x6t via @opinion
NME Music fans share backlash as Apple destroys vintage instruments in “tone-deaf”, “ugly and dystopian” new ad for iPad Pro https://t.co/y9Id2h1j1V
The Rational Walk My thoughts on Apple’s Dystopian iPad Video $AAPL cc @tim_cook https://t.co/oh2ORNB8Oa
Rob 🕹️ People hate this ad because in it creative tools get destroyed and replaced with an iPad - Apple implying you don’t need all those (human) tools to create Everything will be either artisanal (expensive) or commodified (cheap) (Expensive) Did a human make this? Or is it AI?… https://t.co/6UqIImEInU
- The Rational Walk
My thoughts on Apple’s Dystopian iPad Video $AAPL https://t.co/oh2ORNB8Oa
Linus ●ᴗ● Ekenstam Hot take on the iPad ad, it’s fulfilling its purpose as an ad as it provokes. Potentially the most watched recent ad from Apple in a long while, for good or bad. plot twist, Apple says it’s all CGI, rendered and edited using the iPad Pro
MaryAnn Johanson (she/her)Apple just straight-up took their overtly Orwellian 1984 ad as an unironic blueprint, huh? I've been an Apple acolyte for almost as long as there have been Apple computers, but W. T. F.? https://t.co/Cc6aT71qzq
Tom Gara Creative nitpick with the bad Apple ad, completely separate its conceptual badness: it clearly should have been a visual stunt where the industrial press is set to crush everything down to a 5.5mm thick block of smoosh, and only the ultra-slim iPad survives unscathed
Patrick Moorhead The tables seem to have turned. Apple did its 1984 ad smashing the computer overlords (IBM). Apple’s new ad could be interpreted as Apple being the dark tech overlord smashing things that many find dear. But it sure got us all talking about Apple! 🍎 https://t.co/vLGKsAl3uA https://t.co/KFIkUufzDY
Trung Phan Apple is getting roasted for its new ad that shows a bunch of musical instruments getting crushed into an iPad. The ad misunderstands the importance of physical tools in the creative process. Brian Eno has a great explainer on the advantage of physical instruments over… https://t.co/YVk134Mt6c
Reed Albergotti The latest Apple ad fail (a hydraulic press smashing beloved cultural artifacts and suggesting they can somehow be substituted with a tablet) is the second example in a year of a company appearing to fall out of touch with its customers. The other one that comes to mind is…
Jordan Castro I absolutely love this ad Apple just totally owning its role as arch-leveler — flattening all of human experience into a screen, Total Screen, destroying books, music, art — everything uniquely human — until finally it explodes a head and its eyes pop out. Reminds me of P… https://t.co/P2B9eG6En1
Melanie MitchellApple: "let's literally crush all that is wonderful about human artistic creation." https://t.co/L7ir3KKxtx
- Melanie Mitchell
Apple: let's literally crush all that is wonderful about human artistic creation. https://t.co/2nFBnPRamy
Morning Brew ☕️ Are we really surprised Apple released an ad where they crushed creativity into one sleek package? https://t.co/AWmmZ7cf2o
Sean Tuffy“That new iPad ad is the most anti-creativity and anti-human thing I have ever seen” - Area man who spends his time defending AI
Paul Melis (@paulmelis@mastodon.gamedev.place)I really can’t imagine no one at Apple saw the metaphor in this video of crushing the existing physical tools and ecosystem for human creativity (and so link to soulless #AI). Which makes it doubly weird they went with this ad/product, as no one cares about thinness anymore https://t.co/YpKAuW6uko
Eugene Wei Curious…Apple might be the the tech giant you’d least expect to misfire in this way with this ad https://t.co/5bZsvWYry5
Greg M. Epstein is trying to post more @LinkedInApple, 2012 called and wants its commercial back. We no longer trust you & other tech co's not to *literally* crush art and things that bring humans joy. And obsession with thinness was cute once but with everything else going on, it now sounds like an eating disorder. Get help https://t.co/G2fLwcsphu
PCMag Creatives dub Apple's new iPad promo—where art and cultural materials are crushed to a pulp—as 'genuinely dystopian' and 'catastrophically awful.' https://t.co/b3s94iHCMQ
Lulu Cheng Meservey This Apple ad is what happens when you try to be “edgy” with no consideration for strategy. Consider first principles: 1) Apple is a brand built on giving people a sense of inspiration and joy (eg, the colorful 2000s iPod ads) 2) Their target audience is consumers who are… https://t.co/nS9EuXTghK
TheBlaze Apple's new ad met with widespread disgust and resentment over 'dystopian' messaging https://t.co/cIS4ByabmA https://t.co/RCNeMeVOro
Daniel Priestley Steve Jobs had reverence for creatives and he understood symbolism. Here we see beautiful, classic objects being crushed to smithereens and being replaced with a digital device. It's uncomfortable to watch and it reminds me how powerless we are to stop digital tech taking over… https://t.co/MlRWTb3fYB
Michael J. Miraflor I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single commercial offend and turn off a core customer base as much as this iPad spot. Achieves the opposite of their legendary 1984 spot. It’s not even that it’s boring or banal. It makes me feel… bad? Bummed out?
James Clark 📈📉¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Apple's new "Crush" ad (let's call it "2024") is a visual & metaphorical bookend to the 1984 ad. 1984: Monochome, conformist, industrial world exploded by colourful, vibrant human 2024: Colourful, vibrant humanity is crushed by monochrome, conformist industrial press https://t.co/p0yqQ8ZGYL https://t.co/WkyAdubx2m
Ingrid KoppOoof I'm not sure who thought this ad was a good idea. Let's show all these wonderful tools we use to be creative and human and then smash them up and reduce everything to a screen. Lovely. Job done. https://t.co/IxUUgBv2CI
Adam Singer This ad is (unintentional) perfect metaphor for today's creative dark age: compress organic instruments, joyful/imperfect machines, tangible art, our entire physical reality into a soulless, postmodern, read-only device a multi-trillion $ corporation controls what you do with https://t.co/mxtfOKloYV
Katie DeightonThis ad perfectly encapsulates the insight that people think technology is killing everything we ever found joy in. And then presents that as a good thing. I haven't seen such a visceral backlash to a spot in a long time. https://t.co/QWIHwPWgJ4
Ian Miles Cheong Let it be known that I love Apple products but the optics of this ad, which depicts crushing the products of human creativity under an industrial hydraulic press, speaks volumes about the dearth of imagination at the company right now. https://t.co/CCmtQUk9P7
Benj EdwardsThis iPad ad is just so wildly narcissistic and tone deaf. Celebrating creativity by literally destroying every symbolic creative tool “You won’t need these anymore, you only need me.” Seems like a good metaphor for the state of the tech industry these days https://t.co/UKOlvezgeC
Arthur Bouffardwow this is a terrible ad. the symbolism of crushing creative equipment, almost in a comedic/dark way, to make place for a soulless product. dystopian https://t.co/LNWjjgro0t
Andrew 😵💫Apple: a giant chromed steel obelisk slowly crushes all symbols of culture and a rich creative life, with a final gasp of revulsion, it is all reduced to nothing - and we are left with a little magazine sized glass tablet of lightweight mediocrity 👍
Jason SnellJust posted: Some hands-on iPad event impressions https://t.co/s8mL7Sgi93