On May 7, Apple released a new advertisement for its latest iPad Pro, which received waves of negativity on social media. Not because of the device’s features, mind you, but due to the company’s decision to feature the destruction of numerous creative tools in the ad, which many found disrespectful.
And not only disrespectful. Users replying to Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who shared the advertisement on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday had a lot of things to say about it, little of it good. One user labeled it a “heartbreaking, uncomfortable, and egotistic advertisement,” and added that he now feels ashamed for purchasing and owning Apple products.
“The symbolism of indiscriminately crushing beautiful creative tools is an interesting choice,” said Epic Games’ Animation Programmer, Kiaran Ritchie. Many others responded negatively to the ad, though Apple has yet to respond.
Though the company appears to have aimed for more symbolic and not literate advertising, a massive chunk of people felt like the “wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things in the world,” as one user put it, was simply unnecessary.
The advertisement sees all sorts of creative tools, including computers, paint, brushes, musical instruments, and others, collectively destroyed under the awesome weight of a gigantic hydraulic press. The result of this compression is the iPad Pro, Apple’s “thinnest and most powerful” iPad to date.
The advertisement made rounds across the internet, catching the attention of prominent names, including psychologist Jordan Peterson, who called it “the most accidentally true ad ever.”
Apple‘s upcoming iPad Pro will feature the company’s proprietary M4 chip, and Tim Cook calls on us to “imagine all the things it will be used to create.” In the shadow of an ad where the very tools that have enabled humanity to express its creativity are destroyed, few want to follow his call.
