“Here is the destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley.” These are the words of noted actor Hugh Grant. A comment that emanates sarcasm, while referring to the latest advertisement conceived and shared by Apple. Subject: the promotion of the new iPad Pro. Promotion that, for the Cupertino multinational, has resulted in another embarrassment. This instance takes place after the FineWoven case, the “withdrawn” material that was supposed to be the company’s alternative to leather: Apple can’t catch a break.
Apple can’t catch a break
To promote the new iPad Pro, Apple created a commercial titled Crush! (pictured). As La Repubblica newspaper reports, “in the video, various musical instruments, books, cameras, sculptures, movie characters, and much more, are relentlessly crushed by a large press.” A physical compression that, for all intents and purposes, looks like destruction and ultimately results in a very thin tablet. The idea in itself is clear, even if naive. Appel wants to “emphasize how an iPad is capable of condensing the tools needed to do numerous jobs into a very small space.” Yet, the message turned into another very dangerous media boomerang.
After FineWoven, another gaffe
“The brutal pulverization of pianos, guitars, books and other objects,” writes Repubblica, “has triggered much criticism from designers, actors and artists. Why? Simple: they all perceive” in the Apple commercial a symbol of the annihilation of their work and the tools that have always been used to express human creativity.” Quite vibrant and viral controversy, to the point that Apple had to officially admit the error, making public amends. “Our goal,” Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of Marketing & Communication, states ADAge – “is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through the iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we apologize.” A mea culpa that, when considering FineWoven’s failure, did not come. But so be it: you can’t have everything in life….
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