The ad itself depicted a mechanical crusher destroying artifacts of human creativity. A trumpet, guitar, sculpture, piano, drawing board, paints, a metronome, several analog cameras, a turntable, and hi-fi equipment were among the much-loved items yielding to the machine’s unstoppable force.
This whole outcry is a joke.
They’re symbolizing all the creative things, that they just talked about, that you can do with the iPad.
If you got Apple is “destroying creativity” from that, you A) only saw the clip or B) are searching for problem.
I’ll try to explain this to you - the video shows crushing of plethora of sophisticated, subtle, powerful instruments and then says you can replace them all with Apple’s picture poking thing. The preciousness of that thing is not shown to us. The preciousness of those instruments is implied, because we know what they are.
We literally see the precious being crushed and some shit being offered instead after crushing it. Like “I broke all your toys cause I think this one is better and you are going to like it”.
I think it’s supposed to be inflammatory so that we all talk about it and make it viral. This isn’t the first time Apple has done this.
The outcry’s not really Apple, but tech in general. The backlash of crushing the human experience is the transition from valuing true art and creativity, and just lurching toward yet another do-everything screen that doesn’t compliment creativity, but instead displaces it, with the hint of incoming generative AI.
Apple really doesn’t give a fuck about art, creativity, expression, or for that matter quality anymore. They’re good at making a thing that sells, they’re good at marketing it, and they’re good at convincing people of the cost vs worth equation that gives them insane margins over their chic branding. I love the outcry not because of any validity behind the detriment of tablets and smartphones (which is absolutely there) but moreso because it’s entertaining when a company renowned for their advertising prowess fucks up so publicly then backpedals with apologies.
Good times, and fuck Apple.
Yeah, I’m no marketing guru, but I feel their actual point would have been better conveyed by a pile of all of the things the iPad replaced slowly gathering dust, spider webs, and eventually archaeologists.
Especially considering this ad from LG in 2008.
https://youtu.be/SblMbEsMq8Q