Apple apologizes for iPad Pro ‘Crush’ ad after video draws criticism, Ad Age says

Apple apologized Thursday after an ad for its latest iPad Pro model sparked criticism by showing an animation of musical instruments and other symbols of creativity being crushed, Ad Age magazine reported.

“Our goal is always to celebrate the countless ways users express themselves and inspire their ideas through iPad. We missed the mark with this video and we’re sorry,” Ad Age quoted the iPhone maker as saying.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment, but referred inquiries to the Ad Age report.

The ad, titled ‘Crush’, has over one million views on Apple’s YouTube channel and was shared by CEO Tim Cook on social media platform X. It shows various creative tools and objects such as a camera, guitar, piano and paint destroyed by industrial crusher.

The crusher then reveals the newly unveiled iPad, symbolizing just how much the new slimmer model encompasses.

Online commentators criticized the ad as insensitive and an unwelcome departure from the company’s historical brand positioning as non-conformist, people-friendly and an antidote to a dystopian, colorless world.

In a post on X, actor Hugh Grant said the ad showed “the destruction of the human experience courtesy of Silicon Valley.”

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant unveiled a tablet on Tuesday with a new artificial intelligence computing chip as it seeks to catch up with its Big Tech rivals in the race to dominate emerging technologies.

Apple said the iPad Pro, which became available to order on Tuesday, has upgraded displays and is “Apple’s thinnest product yet.”

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