Apple apologizes for dystopian ad that literally crushes art tools

After viewing one A surprisingly disturbing ad for the new iPad Pro earlier this week, Apple issued an apology on Thursday.

The clip – which shows a range of creative tools including a guitar, piano, trumpet and paint bottles being crushed by a hydraulic press – was widely criticised. Other items pulverized included an Angry Bird statue and arcade cabinet.

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives around the world,” said the company's vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren. Proverb in a statement. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video and we're sorry.”

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the “Crush” spot, which also appeared on the company's YouTube, on social media. While both are still in development, AdAge said plans for a TV series have been scrapped.

“Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we've ever created, the most advanced display we've ever created, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it would be used to create,” Cook wrote on X/Twitter.

The company received an immediate response from designers, musicians, photographers and filmmakers – creatives that Apple has spent decades promoting its products as well.

“The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” He wrote Actor Hugh Grant in X.

Filmmaker and actress Justine Bateman, who served as SAG-AFTRA's advisor on the use of artificial intelligence, quoted Cook's post, caption: “Really, what's wrong with you?”