Apple Apologizes For iPad Pro Ad That Appeared To Diminish Human Creativity

Image courtesy of Apple

In a rare move, tech giant Apple acknowledged a misstep and issued an apology for its controversial Crush advertisement promoting the latest iPad Pro.

The commercial, which debuted earlier this week, featured a montage of artistic tools—cameras, paintbrushes, musical instruments—being compressed into oblivion by a hydraulic press. Set to Sonny & Cher’s cheery All I Ever Need is You, it aimed to convey the iPad Pro’s power to streamline creative workflows, squeezed into the company’s “thinnest product yet.” Crush was developed in-house by the Cupertino tech giant itself, Apple’s media partner shared in an email to DesignTAXI.

However, the internet wasn’t feeling the message. Public perception curdled, with many viewers interpreting the spot as a heavy-handed metaphor for technology supplanting traditional creative mediums— a stark departure from Apple's usual brand image, which often champions human connection and artistic expression.

The backlash reached a crescendo when actor Hugh Grant publicly criticized the film, calling it “the destruction of the human experience courtesy of Silicon Valley.”

Faced with mounting criticism, Apple offered a mea culpa. In a statement to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, the company’s vice president of marketing communications, admitted the video “missed the mark” and reiterated how creativity continues to make up the “DNA” of Apple.

The Apple representative stressed that the brand has always endeavored to “celebrate the myriad of ways” of user expression. However, it made a misstep this time, and “we’re sorry.”

[via CBS News, Variety, Ad Age, cover image courtesy of Apple]