Apple apologizes for iPad Pro ad showing hydraulic press destroying guitars, piano

Apple
took
on
Thursday
the
unusual
step
of
apologizing
for
a
short
advertising
video
promoting
the
company’s
new
iPad
Pro
tablet
after
the
ad
was
roundly
criticized
on
social
media.

“Our
goal
is
to
always
celebrate
the
myriad
of
ways
users
express
themselves
and
bring
their
ideas
to
life
through
iPad,”
Tor
Myhren,
vice
president
of
marketing
communications
at
Apple,

told
Ad
Age,
an
advertising
trade
publication. “We
missed
the
mark
with
this
video,
and
we’re
sorry.”

Apple
CEO

Tim
Cook
posted
the
spot
on
X,
formerly
Twitter,
on
Tuesday.
Apple
also
posted
it
to
YouTube.
It
showed
a
variety
of
creative
tools,
including
a
guitar,
piano
and
metronome
being
pressed
by
a
hydraulic
crusher
—
like
recent
viral
TikTok
videos
—
until
all
the
objects
were
compressed
into
the
company’s
new
tablet.

Apple
has
also
decided
not
to
run
the
ad
on
TV,
Ad
Age
said.

The
spot
provoked
derision,
including
extensive
media
coverage,
as
viewers
said
that
it
made
Apple
look
out
of
touch,
and
many
posted
that
the
destruction
of
the
creative
tools
offended
them.

Some
Apple
critics

claimed
that
the
negative
reaction
to
the
ad,
instead
of
spreading
Apple’s
marketing
message
for
free,
was
a
sign
the
company
was
running
out
of
goodwill
among
customers.
Apple
is
a
major
advertiser
and
has
historically
been
closely
linked
with
TBWA\Media
Arts
Lab,
its
longtime
ad
agency,
although
it
also
does
some
advertising
development
internally.

It
isn’t
the
first
Apple
iPad
ad
in
recent
years
to
irritate
some
customers.
In
2018,
some
people
said
they
were

annoyed
by
an
iPad
Pro
spot
in
which
a
child
asks, “What’s
a
computer?”