Tech giant Apple has issued an apology following widespread criticisms of its new “Crush” ad, which was meant to showcase its next-generation iPad Pro.
The ad, which was posted on Tuesday on Youtube and on X (formerly Twitter) by Apple CEO Tim Cook, features a hydraulic press that slowly crushes a plethora of creative tools and musical instruments that artists and consumers have used through the years—from a piano, guitar, record player, books, camera, a drum kit, to piles of paint and other sorts of art materials.
When the hydraulic press retracts, a thinner iPad Pro is revealed.
The “Crush” video immediately sparked controversy, drawing out negative reactions from viewers who interpreted it as a dark metaphor. The ad caused outrage among some in the creative community, highlighting the way artificial intelligence is crushing human creativity.
Actor Hugh Grant called it a “destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” while Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano told Tim Cook to “read the room.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson recently shared a drawing on X depicting an emoji symbolising creatives being squashed by AI.
Shelly Palmer, a tech. Marketing and media consultant and professor of advanced media in residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications said in a blog post,”To me, it is a horrifying declaration of how Apple thinks about the creative community. It will probably still be online when you read this. Maybe Apple is proud of their work. I don’t know. It makes me sick.”
Apple has already issued an apology. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Apple’s vice president of marketing, Tom Myhern, said the company “missed the mark.”
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Ad Age also reported that Apple has decided against airing the commercial on TV. As of now, the ad is still published on YouTube, where it has garnered more than 2 million views.