Posted in: Apple, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: apple, ipad, ipad pro, opinion

Apple Issues Apology: Not Looking to "Crush!" Human Experience

It looks like someone read the backlash because Apple issued an apology for its recent new iPad Pro ad: "We missed the mark" with "Crush!"

By now, we're sure you've heard about the controversy surrounding the commercial for Apple's new iPad Pro. Remember when Apple was all the rage – seeing themselves as some kind of "runner for the resistance" – throwing a hammer at the George Orwellian face on the huge screen to make the case for breaking from the status quo (and to sell a crapload of Macintosh computers, too)? Well, that wasn't quite the message that folks for from "Crush!" – but then again, it's kinda tough to portray a very large & destructive hydraulic press in a positive light. To the tune of Sonny and Cher's "All I Ever Need Is You," the promo featured a large display of televisions, musical instruments, books, video game consoles, and a whole lot more creative things being slowly crushed under said press. And it takes its time – taking up over 50 seconds of the 1:08 ad – making it all that much more disturbing. From there, the press rises to reveal that from that destruction comes – a new (and really thin) iPad Pro.

From what we can tell, the ad was supposed to send the message that the iPad Pro packs a lot of creative artistry into such a small package. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote this about the company's new hardware, "Just imagine all the things it'll be used to create." But in an age when artificial intelligence has only fueled the justified fears that the creative community has about the human experience being replaced by machines, we're still not sure how anyone on Apple's side couldn't have seen the backlash coming. While the Apple CEO was thinking in tech terms, a lot of folks who use the very things that were destroyed see the commercial as a cynical metaphor for efforts to "automate art" – devaluing the importance of the artist in that process.

Well, it looks like some folks at Apple checked out the not-so-pleasant feedback because the company issued an apology. "Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world," Tor Myhren, Apple VP of marketing communications, shared in a statement. "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." Though the ad is still online (you can check it out above), Apple has apparently canceled plans to air "Crush!" on television.

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