Apple smashes instruments and creates ruckus

The world’s second largest company launched its new iPad in brutal fashion. Then it slammed.

It starts idyllically: In a department store, someone has lined up a piano and a guitar, a vinyl player and a pair of speakers, piles of books, photo lenses and colorful paint – tools and ingredients for so many artists, artists and creative souls.

But then, in what could have been a scene from The “Saw” movies The “Saw” moviesAmerican horror film series where people are killed and dismembered in a brutal and partly creative way. , a hydraulic press is started. It descends, slowly and relentlessly, until everything is crushed.

The commercial was launched on Tuesday this week. On X, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote about the product, the new iPad Pro:

“Just think of all the things it will be used to create.”

But that was not the message everyone was left with. On the same platform, Hugh Grant wrote about the video:

“The annihilation of the human experience. Sincerely, Silicon Valley.”

The actor was, to put it mildly, not alone.

– Images you associate with the Taliban

In the name of justice: It is possible to find someone who likes the one minute long film.

– Apple always keeps things thought-provoking and at the same time simple in execution, and they do that with this advertisement.

That’s what the head of the creative agency Formul8 said in one of the many articles that have now been written about the advertisement. But most of the reactions go more along these lines:

“Why does Apple make an advertisement that crushes art?”

“…images you associate with the Taliban.”

“Wow, no one at Apple had any idea how depressing this ad is?”

How many people on X and elsewhere hate the new Apple ad? At the time of writing, it has 44 million views on Cook’s X account alone – and, it would seem, nearly as many critical comments.

The advertisement has become “a metaphor for the fear of the technology industry”, writes the New York Times.

The advertising may appear extra tone-deaf now, at a time when more and more artists are concerned about how AI makes it easy to imitate – and perhaps replace – what they create.

And if you are afraid that new technology will crush your livelihood, then it is not certain that you will rejoice over an advertisement that shows this literally.

Opposite of 1984

The criticism comes at a time when everything is no longer going smoothly for Apple. Earlier this year, the company lost the throne as the world’s most valuable company to its old rival Microsoft.

The big difference between the two: Microsoft has invested several billion dollars in its partnership with AI company OpenAI. While Apple has yet to launch something that shows they are keeping up with the raging AI race that is now underway in Silicon Valley.

The storm of criticism is also unusual for a company that has been praised for its campaigns and advertisements. It began 40 years ago, when Apple showed its iconic 1984 commercial.

Several X users point out a grim contrast between these two:

The old film shows a colorful human crushing a gray dystopia.

The new one shows a gray and dystopian hydraulic press that crushes colorful and human creativity.

Then there is little doubt that Apple, which has so far failed to comment on the criticism, did not attempt such symbolism. When the hydraulic press is raised again, only the razor-thin iPad remains, as if to say: “Imagine that all that will fit in this!”

Now a new version of the Apple advertisement is circulating, which is applauded by many. There the process goes in reverse. It starts with the iPad being smashed, and ends with the colorful collection of instruments and creative tools.