Apple apologized Thursday after an ad for its latest iPad caused an uproar by showing an industrial press crushing objects associated with human creativity, angering artists.
Social media users immediately slammed the ad, which was posted on X by Apple CEO Tim Cook, as painfully tone-deaf at a time when the creative community is worried about its future with the advent of genetic artificial intelligence.
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives around the world,” Apple vice president of marketing Tor Myhren told Ad Age.
“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
The company also said it would not air the ad on television as planned.
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Themed to Sonny and Cher’s “All I ever need is you,” the one-minute ad titled “Crush” sees the stack of creative objects — including a guitar, piano and paint cans — explode under Apple’s pressure . type.
In the end, the press pulls out and reveals Apple’s latest tablet, the iPad Pro, which is touted as ultra-slim.
“The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” actor Hugh Grant wrote on X in response to Cook’s tweet.
Hollywood director Reed Morano urged Cook to “read the room”, calling the ad “psychotic”.
The ad came on viral TikTok videos of industrial presses and other machines watched by millions on the platform.
Many critics said the ad betrayed Apple’s iconic 1984 commercial that launched the first Mac computer and portrayed the company as a rebel throwing hammers at a monolithic big brother.
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The ad comes as the creator of ChatGPT and Dall-E OpenAI, as well as other AI giants, face lawsuits from artists and publishers who say their material was used to train AI models without permission.
Source: AFP