by From the pop-art iPod ads to the celebrity-driven Mac vs PC campaign, Apple hasn’t had many marketing missteps with its name.
But a controversial ad for the company’s latest iPad model has critics railing against the tech giant for what they say is a slight against artists and the creative community – a demographic once drawn to Apple products.
The ad, titled “Crush!”, shows a range of creative objects – including musical instruments, art sculptures, typewriters, a record table and a vintage arcade machine – being slowly crushed by a hydraulic press.
(You know, the one David Letterman often used to push bowling balls for fun. Similar videos are dominating TikTok feeds everywhere.)
When the spread is destroyed by the press, it releases, and a new iPad appears glimmering, having replaced everything that came before it – or has become obsolete. All I Ever Want Is You with Cher and Sonny rings out.
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The spot went viral when critics decried its message. Some have found it extremely difficult to push the imagery of big tech creative tools as artists grapple with the threats posed by artificial intelligence.
“This new announcement from Apple perfectly illustrates what Big Tech is all about: suppressing human creativity in the name of technological innovation and selling it to us as progress,” one X user. write.
“It is deaf to say the least, malicious to say the least, in the current climate of the Irish Language League [AI] instead of the human arts.”
Krista Ball, an author in Edmonton who is also an Apple shareholder, said she watched the commercial and there was “a gut-wrenching, gross reaction — almost the way you feel when you see a really gross political ad.”
“The iPad doesn’t replace the pen and paper tools,” Ball said in an interview with CBC News. “Apple has always had this reputation for trying to work with art, to expand art, so to literally destroy art to say ‘we’re better,’ which is not attractive to artists.”
Apple has long been known for developing technology that complements creative work – from easy-to-use tools like iMovie and GarageBand for film and audio editing, to professional tools like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro.
In a social media post that introduced the commercial, Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared to write the new iPad, “Imagine all the things it will be used to create.”
But British actor Hugh Grant saw things differently. “Destroy the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” Grant wrote in response to Cook’s post. American actress Justine Bateman took it to heart, asking Cook: “Really, what’s wrong with you?”
CBC News has reached out to Apple for comment.
Famous recalls 1984 commercial
For many critics, the new Apple ad contrasted unfavorably with the tech company’s famous 1984 ad. Blade Runner director Ridley Scott, who depicted a dystopian society ruled by a Big Brother-esque figure.
As the ruler speaks from a television to his engrossed followers, a woman approaches the screen and smashes it with a sledgehammer.
“On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce the MacIntosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be the same 1984,” a voice declared, referring to George Orwell’s classic novel.
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AnneMarie Dorland, assistant professor of marketing at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said that the 1984 ad “taught people to feel that Apple was something rebellious.”
The Mac Computer company’s signature was “different than the status quo or what you expected or already had,” she said.
That vision of a new world is still present in the latest commercial, Dorland said – but the messages around the commercial, including the title “Crush!”, “maybe it’s a misleading way to talk about it. “
It brought attention to what would be a minor update to one of the company’s flagship products, she said. “We are all still talking about the introduction of a slightly smaller iPad. So, despite the controversy, it is working.”
She noted that Apple may be trying to reach new audiences “who are accessing some level of joy and creativity for the first time with some of these tools. So you could really make the argument, b ‘maybe, Apple is just going after a new generation.’
Is Apple’s reputation changing?
Thom Binding, a marketing strategist in London, said he had a positive reaction to the announcement – but noted that the broader negative response to it is how Apple’s reputation has changed.
“I think that in itself is quite scary for Apple because they have shaped the brand around attractive to creative people,” said Binding.
“Apple is going to lose its relevance or position within the culture and [with] creative people,” Binding said. “And that’s what’s happening right now. It’s probably something that’s been going on for the last 10 years.”
He cited Apple’s dominance in the technology industry and its recent run-ins with antitrust regulators, including a lawsuit by the US Department of Justice that accuses Apple of engineering a monopoly in the smartphone market.
“There’s a growing sense that Apple is the bad guy, and not the friendly, creative, rebellious brand we all remember,” Binding said.
