Looks like Apple’s dreams of making such an acclaimed, genius ad have been crushed once again. During the “Let loose” event, John Ternus was about to unveil the all-new breakthrough iPad Pro, but before the reveal, he said, “We’re not only going to push the limits on what you can do on iPad. We’re going to crush them!” And Apple did just that with this ad.
As you can see, this ad features several instruments, art supplies, media-playing devices, and studio equipment on display. However, a hydraulic press descends and crushes everything in sight before it lifts back up to unveil the all-new redesigned iPad Pro. That ad intended to show that everything you can create, whether it’s music, photography, videography, or art, can all be done in a single device that you can take everywhere. That ad also promotes the thinness of the iPad Pro, which is now Apple’s thinnest product at 5.1mm (for the 13” model).
This hydraulic press concept was inspired by several viral videos of hydraulic press on social media. You may not know this, but this ad also took inspiration from LG’s advertisement for its KC910 Renoir smartphone.
However, the ad was heavily criticized by several actors and content creators as they had very strong opinions that the ad was showing that technology was taking over the content creation industry.
Actor Hugh Grant mentioned the ad as “the destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley.”
Producer, director, and writer Asif Kapadia couldn’t have expressed his opposition better:
“Like iPads but don’t know why anyone thought this ad was a good idea. It is the most honest metaphor for what tech companies do to the arts, to artists musicians, creators, writers, filmmakers: squeeze them, use them, not pay well, take everything then say it’s all created by them.”
Even Sebastiaan de With, the co-founder of the third-party iPad camera app Halide, reported that the ad was received poorly in Japan:
“I found it interesting to read the Japanese backlash responses to this, some particularly disturbed because of a belief in “Tsukumogami” ”” the idea that creative tools can possess a spirit of their own (a beautiful notion), so destroying them is truly evil ”¦ not a great look.”
With tons of unwanted attention from the press, Apple issued a public apology to AdAge that the video “missed the mark” on what it intended to convey. Furthermore, Apple pulled the ad from television networks, but people can still watch the ad on Apple’s YouTube channel.
So Apple was in hot waters for its controversial ad, and since the new iPad Pro is already thinner, Apple faced criticism again with “Bendgate” which was introduced with the A12X models in 2018. Only time will tell to hear what reviewers have to say about the iPad Pro (M4).
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