Apple has apologized after backlash over its advert – including from actor Hugh Grant – that showed valuable objects being pulverized.
Following a backlash from fans of the firm and celebrities, the company admitted the ad – which showed items including musical instruments and books being crushed by a hydraulic press – fell short of its goal of empowering and celebrating creatives.
“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry,” representatives said in a statement to marketing publication Ad Age.
The ad was designed to show how creativity has been compressed into the latest iPad.
Famous faces including actors Hugh Grant, 63, and Justine Bateman, 58, reacted with horror to the destruction shown in the advert.
Apple boss Tim Cook, 63, was also blasted as tone deaf by fans on social media for showing the destruction of items worth a fortune amid the world’s global cost of living crisis.
Grant branded it a representation of the “destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley,” while Bateman – who has been a high-profile critic of the use of artificial intelligence in the film industry – said Apple’s ad showed it was “crushing the arts.”
The advert attempted to show the capabilities of Apple’s latest tablet, from streaming to listening to music and playing video games, while showing how it is ultra-thin.
It provoked particular outrage among the Japanese, who say it “lacked respect” as it was based on ‘tsukumogami’ – a folklore term used to describe a tool that can contain a spirit or soul of its own.
“The act of destroying tools is arrogant and offensive to us Japanese,” one critic said online.
