ON THE ONE HAND, IT WENT VIRAL, SO THAT HAS TO BE GOOD NEWS* FOR APPLE. ON THE OTHER HAND: Apple apologizes for its controversial iPad Pro ad.
Apple has apologized and admitted it “missed the mark” with its latest iPad Pro advertisement.
The ad, posted on social media Tuesday by Apple CEO Tim Cook, was met with backlash from internet users who felt that the ad celebrated technology’s destruction of human creativity and art.
In a statement to AdAge, Apple’s vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, apologized.
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world. Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,” Myhren said. “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Apple confirmed the statement it provided to AdAge but declined to provide further comment.
The ad shows symbols of human creativity, like musical instruments, paint cans, an ’80s arcade video game and a bust of a human head crushed by a giant hydraulic press. As the metal slabs of the hydraulic press lift, Apple’s new iPad Pro is revealed.
While everyone appreciates the amount of legacy technology that is now accessible — often for free — within an iPad or iPhone, people like owning physically tactile devices such as guitars and pianos. For example, the whole history of recording music via PC has been increasing the software’s ability to integrate with hardware devices that musicians and recording engineers have decades and decades of experience working with. On both an aural level and an ability to hands-on tweak the physical controls level, hardware devices are often much more fun than diving down into multiple levels of GUIs and onscreen menus.
Which is why Apple’s new ad is infinitely more appealing when run in reverse:
Hey @Apple, I fixed it for you (sound on) pic.twitter.com/OwVnYNgXhT
— Reza Sixo Safai (@rezawrecktion) May 8, 2024
* Even articles like the CNN/Yahoo piece above and this post are, of course, serving as more free advertising for Apple.