Apple apologizes after quelling backlash over iPad ad

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Apple has apologized for an ad featuring musical instruments, art tools and games being crushed by a giant hydraulic press that left it facing accusations of cultural insensitivity.

The one-minute video was released by Apple CEO Tim Cook in support New iPadThe US technology group is overhauling its tablet line for the first time in two years as it seeks to reverse faltering sales.

Campaign — soundtracked by Sonny and Cher’s 1971 hit All I need is you – designed to show how much effort Apple has been able to squeeze into a thinner device. According to the trade press, the ad was produced in-house by Apple’s creative team report.

The campaign was met with a wave of outrage, with social media users hitting back Cook’s X post by accusing Apple of crushing “beautiful creative tools” and “symbols of human creativity and cultural achievement.”

Advertising industry executives said the ad represented a misstep for the Silicon Valley company, which under late co-founder Steve Jobs was praised for its ability to attract attention. consumer attention through previous campaigns.

Apple vice president of marketing communications Tor Myhren said Thursday that the company “fell short of its mark” with the video, in a statement first released to Ad Age. Apple added that it will not air television ads as the ad publisher said it planned to do.

“Innovation is in our DNA at Apple, and it is extremely important to us to design products that support creativity around the world,” said Myhren. “Our goal has always been to celebrate the countless ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad.”

“We missed the point of this video and we apologize,” he said.

Christopher Slevin, creative director at marketing agency Inkling Culture, compared the iPad ad unfavorably to Apple’s famous Ridley Scott-directed “1984” campaign for the first Macintosh computer, positioning Apple as the liberator of a dark, monochromatic world.

“The goal of Apple’s new iPad is basically them turning into what they said they were going to destroy in the 1984 ad,” Slevin said.

Actor Hugh Grant accused Apple of “ruining the human experience thanks to Silicon Valley” on X.

But Richard Exon, founder of marketing agency Joint, said: “A more important question is: does advertising do its job? It’s memorable, special, and now I know the new iPad has even more but is thinner than ever.”

Consumer insights platform Zappi conducted consumer research on advertising suggesting that the idea of ​​hydraulic crushing is divisive.

It said the ad performed worse on benchmarks on frequently searched emotions such as happiness and laughter and performed better on traditional negative emotions including shock and confusion, where Older adults are more likely to have negative reactions than younger consumers.

Nataly Kelly, chief marketing officer at Zappi, said: “Is Apple’s iPad ad a work of genius or a sign of dark times? It really depends on your age. The shock value lies in the power of this ad, which is controversial in terms of design, so the fact that people are talking about it is a win.”