When Apple unveiled the iPad Pro at the Let Loose event, it showcased it through an ad titled “Crushed”. The ad begins with all kinds of creative tools — a piano, a record player, books, a vintage video game, and even cans of paint — getting brutally crushed in a hydraulic press.
When the crushing is done, out comes the new and thin iPad Pro. Pretty slick, huh? Reminds us of when Apple convinced everyone an iPod held your entire music collection (remember those?). So the strategy is good but the timing perhaps isn’t.
There has already been too much fear (irrational?) about technology gazumping human jobs and AI tools threatening creative pros like artists, musicians and others.
The ad hasn’t gone down well, at least on social media. Even Hollywood actor Hugh Grant commented on it. Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the ad on his X account and got a reply from Grant who said, “The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.”
The artistic community wasn’t also too appreciative of the message Apple seems to be sending with the ad. Ed Solomon, screenwriter for Men in Black posted “Who needs human life and everything that makes it worth living? Dive into this digital simulacrum and give us your soul. Sincerely, Apple.”
Reed Morano, Emmy-winning director of Handmaid’s Tale tagged Cook in a post and said, “READ THE ROOM, BRO. CUZ THIS SHIT IS ACTUALLY PSYCHOTIC [sic]”.
Apple hasn’t made any comment on the ad and is unlikely to do. As we said, the ad is actually on point and does depict what it is meant to do — showcase the technological prowess of the new iPad Pro. The ad certainly has given fodder to folks outraged and worried about the deep impact of technology on the world.
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