Dai Lijuan/Text After a wide online response, Apple apologized for its ad promoting the latest iPad Pro.
In a statement obtained by Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the ad's message failed to resonate.
"Creativity is in Apple's DNA, and it's important for us to design products that empower creatives around the world," says Myhren, "and our goal is to always celebrate the ways in which people express themselves and realize their ideas through iPad." We didn't do that in this video, and we apologize for that. ”
Loading...
On Tuesday, Apple released the ad "Crush", which translates to "press it" in Chinese, with an industrial printing press as a backdrop, crushing analog expressions such as trumpets, pianos, cameras, paint cans and upright video game consoles, with Sonny & Cher's "All I Ever Need Is You" in the background.
Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the ad on the X with a caption: "Imagine everything it's going to use to create." ”
Criticism of the ad online has been almost unanimous, with many netizens pointing out that while the ad may have been meant to depict the multiple features of the product, it seems to imply that technology is a force that destroys human creativity.
Apple's "Crush" ad, interpreted by many creatives, offers an antithesis: in this ad, a flattened trumpet and the remains of a carved bust become a visual metaphor for the threat posed by Big Tech and artificial intelligence to the already underfunded and undervalued creative industries.
"On paper, it's a cool idea." Alan Young, chief operating officer at St. Luke's, said, "But today is different. Filmmaking, illustration, cinematography, and music are all suddenly being built by autonomous systems, and the ad is like a metaphor for many. ”
One creative director compared the ad to Apple's previous ad, "1984," originally for Apple computers. Directed by Ridley Scott, the ad depicts Apple saving the world from a mechanized utopian nightmare.
Christopher Slevin, creative director at marketing agency Inkling Culture, wrote on LinkedIn: "Apple's new iPad ad is essentially them turning themselves into what they said they were going to destroy in the 1984 ad. ”
For Jon Evans, chief account officer at ad testing platform System1, the piece has a sinister tinge to it, even if unintentional. "Back in 1984, Apple inspired me to smash boring PC machines and unleash my creativity, but somehow, in 2024, we find that Apple has smashed all the output of creativity and become the machine they bast," he said. ”
"It's the most eerie, spooky ad I've ever seen in my life. Fire all your marketers. This is nothing short of a disaster for your brand. ”
"Everybody hates Apple's ads, but the Japanese really hate them. I've never seen so many Japanese people express their opinions on a topic. ”
The "Crush" commercial was a rare blunder for Apple, which is often praised by the creative community. His "1984" Super Bowl commercial, "Think Different" and "Get a Mac" are all considered classics in the advertising world.