Apple cancels planned TV spot for contentious ‘Crush’ ad
Apple has announced that it will cancel the planned TV run for their controversial ‘Crush’ ad, after admitting it “missed the mark.”
This week, Apple launched its new iPad and simultaneously shared the new advert on Tim Cook’s X account and Apple’s YouTube page. Far from serving to excite people about the AI-enhanced iPad, the advert angered and upset people.
Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created, the most advanced display we’ve ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create. pic.twitter.com/6PeGXNoKgG
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 7, 2024
“I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is [sic] this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for,” said one user in response. Another highlighted the way this advert sits in contrast with an iconic Apple ad of the past: “Forty years ago, Apple released the 1984 commercial as a bold statement against a dystopian future. Now you are that dystopian future. Congratulations.”
The tech giant seemingly heard the message loud and clear. In a statement made to AdAge, Apple acknowledged that the ad failed to meet its goal of empowering creators. Tor Myhren, the company’s VP of marketing communications said,
Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world. 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.”
What did the Apple ‘Crush’ advert do, and did it miss the mark?
The advert, which shows a crusher smashing a range of creative items from paint to instruments to sculptures, before lifting to reveal a new iPad, is intended to express the creative potential contained within the device. ‘Look at all the things you can do and create with an iPad,’ it was meant to say.
Instead, the message was more along the lines that Apple will crush all creativity and joy out of the world so it can live inside an iPad, and no one will be able to create with physical objects anymore.
One X user suggested that the ad would make more sense if played backward – ‘look at all the creativity contained within an iPad that you can call forth at a touch.’
I think the ad would work much better if it was reversed. All the objects should be expanding out of the iPad rather than being crushed into it
made this edited version in five minutes (thanks iMovie!) pic.twitter.com/TZxzpuYzXu
— kepano (@kepano) May 8, 2024
Whatever your views on the ad, it should be noted it’s not the first of it’s kind. In fact, phone maker LG made a remarkably similar one in 2008.
LG phone ad from 2008 (BBH London) pic.twitter.com/cWIDZx1d4a
— Andy Allen (@asallen) May 9, 2024
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