An ad for Apple's new iPad tablet showing musical instruments, art tools and games being crushed by a giant hydraulic press has been hit with an online backlash, calling it cultural insensitivity.
The one-minute video was released by Apple CEO Tim Cook in support of the company's new iPad range, and marks the first time the American tech giant has overhauled its product range in a two-year effort to reverse sluggish sales. This is my first time.
The campaign features a soundtrack of Sonny and Cher's 1971 hit song. All I need is you— designed to demonstrate just how much Apple has been able to cram into a thinner tablet. According to industry press reports, the ad was created in-house by Apple's creative team.
The campaign was met with a wave of outrage, with social media reacting to Cook's X post accusing Apple of trampling “a beautiful creative tool” and “a symbol of human creativity and cultural achievement.”
Advertising industry executives claimed the ad was a mistake for the Silicon Valley giant, which had been praised for its ability to capture consumers' attention in past campaigns under the late Steve Jobs.
Christopher Slevin, creative director at marketing agency Inkling Culture, compared the iPad ad unfavorably to the famous Apple campaign called “1984” for the original Macintosh computer, directed by Ridley Scott. The ad positioned Apple as liberating a dystopian black-and-white world.
“What Apple’s new iPad is doing is essentially turning into what they said they were trying to destroy in their 1984 ad,” Slevin said.
Actor Hugh Grant accused Apple of “Silicon Valley destroying the human experience” through X.
But Richard Exon, founder of marketing agency Joint, said: “The more important question is: is advertising doing its job? “It’s memorable and unique, and now we know the new iPad has more features and is thinner than ever.”
Consumer insights platform Zappi conducted consumer research on the ad suggesting the idea of hydraulic press shredding technology was divisive.
This ad underperformed the benchmark on commonly sought emotions such as happiness and laughter, but overperformed on traditionally negative emotions such as shock and confusion, and revealed that older consumers were more likely to react negatively than younger consumers. Yes.
Nataly Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer at Zappi: “Is Apple’s iPad ad a work of genius or a sign of dystopian times? It really depends on how old you are. “Shock value is the power of this ad, which is controversial by design, so the fact that people are talking about it is a victory.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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