The first time I watched it, it did make me feel...uneasy? Sad? Hard to explain. Watching things we're nostalgic for crushed away hurts in a weird way. A stark reminder that your early years are gone and not coming back. All when the end result is another soulless rectangle slab.
All of that said, I do think many are overreacting, especially those calling for firings all the way up to Cook over it(yes, I really read that, multiple times.) It's just an ad, it didn't physically hurt anyone.
exactly. like Jordan Peele says the difference between comedy and horror is the music.
If you mute the sound on this apple Ad, then play Padme's Funeral Theme as the music instead, its a whole different vibe. It's like watching the death of humanity crushed down into a soulless block of nothing.
Just tried it out and... Yup. Completely different vibe, absolutely soul crushing. It lines up perfectly well if you start playing Padme's Funeral Theme at 0:04 right when the iPad ad starts, even the ending where the iPad is revealed gets an ominous tone.
A much better ad! Showing the iPad as so much more than the some of its parts, instead of Apple’s original ad, which is to take all the charm and joy and talent required to make art in real life and discard it for a lifeless slab of glass.
Wow. I was expecting an edit that would further mock Apple but this super simple change massively improved the ad IMO while maintaining all of the cool ideas the original creators had.
It wouldn't fix the complaints about all the items destroyed to make the ad, but other than that—yeah, this gets out the same idea, in a much more positive direction. I like it.
Maybe this whole saga is the ad, including controversy + fixit job. In reverse though it's still destruction... not a big deal because it's just an ad, but kind of oddly arrogant? Hard to describe. If a more peaceful but still Skynet-like entity made some kind of propaganda, it'd be something like this. Perhaps AI made this ad it has that vibe. I hope we see a making-of for the ad.
When I saw the backlash, I thought it was silly. Until I saw the ad. It really was in poor taste. It shows Apple’s total lack of engagement with the real world, with art and artists and their instruments and tools. In Apple’s universe, those are all distilled to digital facsimiles that can fit on a glass slab.
One reading of this ad could be a play with the viral “hydraulic press” videos and the idea that the product is an amalgamation of all sorts of creative tools.
Another reading is the disregard for destroying nice things that lots of people would love to have access to or own.
I guess it really depends on the background of who watches the ad. In this regard it seems whoever came up with the ad lacked some cultural sensibility.
It is a great ad because it does what everything marketing team wants you to do: discuss the product. I'd consider it a success for invoking lots of different emotions. To me, it's humorous to have all of the physical things portrayed there virtually smushed into an iPad lol
I'm not so sure about "all publicity is good publicity" - it's true that it works if nobody has heard of your product. Sales-wise, it's better that a million people hear about it and 70% have a negative view of your advertising while 20% don't care and 10% like it, than it is to have 10,000 people hear of it and every one of them like it.
But when you're at Apple's level? Probably 95% of the US population knows what an iPad is and probably 80% have used one at some point. At that level you have to be more concerned about brand management. If people start getting a negative association with your brand then you open up the door to competitors. Look at Twitter, Tesla, etc. - tons of press, very controversial, but it doesn't seem to help at their level.
Sorry but no, having worked in advertisement it's still an awful ad that will haunt the company.
There is no world in which "destroy everything you care about and trade it for our product" is a good message and won't have a lasting impact for 5-20 years.
This is a stunningly bad failure and people can and should be fired.
I am honestly becoming bewildered at this point. This ad where they crush some things à la a YouTube hydraulic press video is now generating what appears to be actual hatred for real humans. Is our culture really this sick? What is happening?
It is amazing visuals, I think everyone kind of wants to see what throwing paint around, smashing a guitar, etc feels like and this kind of does that.
I do hope it all computer generated or props — it was a great collection of culture, even though I know old pianos are essentially worthless.
I think if they had generated a black hole and had it all sucked in and smashed together would work -/ I think you could have had similar visuals but more fantastical distribution that rises as the phoenix into the iPad Pro.
I think the problem with it is more about how it’s emphasizing hardware physical attributes of the device but apple is mostly about the culture and the feeling in their past ads. When u buy an iphone u know ur not getting the best hardware but you but it for the culture and the feelings it gives you no?
Apparently it is culturally insensitive in Japan to destroy beautiful tools and works of art. Most on X are just piling on but some Japanese might have a more visceral response to the ad.
I really don't see how this is distopian. they are basicly jsut saying that all of these creative tools can be crushed down into an ipad. that the ipad does everything all that stuff did. I can't the only one who feels like this is an amazing achievment.
They have a million ways of conveying the message of "compress", yet they delibrately choose the most violent and destructive one.
Think of cinematic or cartoon-ish effects like turning the objects into colorful fluid on compress and magically forge an ipad.
Instead of this they choose to show every detail of instruments being painfully crushed and destroyed.
It's dystopian because they're crushing these items, and not only crushing them, but doing it slowly in a way that seems to take pleasure in the destruction. Because they've unintentionally created a visual metaphor for the relentless commoditization, dehumanization and destruction of culture and art by capitalism, tech and AI, and the crass arrogance displayed by the tech community towards creatives.
If you can't interpret any meaning in the ad beyond Apple's sales pitch, fair enough, but there are other ways to interpret visual language besides the literal.
And... it's not that amazing an achievement. An Apple tablet that runs Adobe software? Big deal. Even the "thinness" that's supposed to be the focus of the message isn't that impressive. No one really cares that Apple shaved a millimeter off the cross-section, it just a vanity spec that makes the damn thing more fragile.
"Hey look at all of these things you like! These are great, right? Now watch us destroy them, watch them get crushed into smithereens before your very eyes. Forget about all of that busted up crap that you used to like, buy our new slab instead!"
But besides the question whether that is actually true (it is not, the ipad certainly can't do everything as good) the issue people seem take with this that its not just compressed or put into it but literally destroyed and crushed.
Yeah, definitely first world problems but I can relate to that.
I've seen some discussions around this ad circulating alone, and I understand the concerns, but at the same time I feel it's a bit much ado about nothing. I think the thought here is clearly "this device is the capabilities of all these items together", which frankly isn't untrue. I find it as charming or insulting as any other ad, which is to say it feels as corporate as anything else, it just comes at a time where creatives feel more on the back foot.
...in my opinion, for good reason. I haven't seen mentioned in any of the comments the fact that Apple controls their ecosystem, and takes away our freedom to use our devices. That's the antithesis of "creativity", and I'm disgusted that this seems to be OK with HN voters.
Is it really "basing your opinion off a public caricature" to wonder what a popular figure would think of their business after their departure? The man is dead, it's not like you have to defend Jobs' likeness in case he Tweets how he feels about it tomorrow.
It's a pretty crap ad - they have a weird oblique shot of the product from a angle so you can't even get a sense of the proportions.
I won't comment too much on the messaging, but I will say that it very much seems to be targeted more towards the people paying for the ad than end customers.
we're here, talking about the ad, and by extension the product. which makes it a huge a success for the marketing team. are people that were going to buy an iPad before now not gonna buy an iPad because they got offended? maybe! are people who weren't in the market for a new iPad now thinking about iPads? yup.
Doesn't that make the ad a success? Getting people to discuss the product leads to greater awareness of the product. Awareness of the product might lead to more sales
This is true for a product from an unknown startup. I'm willing to bet 99% of iPad 3 buyers have already heard that the iPad exists from a source other than this ad or its online echoes.
It's just a mediocre ad, it has no effect to either increase or decrease the sales. those who hate Apple will pile on, fanboys will rant about the beauty of creative sacrifice, most people will be indifferent to an unequivocally ugly and forgettable ad.
All of that said, I do think many are overreacting, especially those calling for firings all the way up to Cook over it(yes, I really read that, multiple times.) It's just an ad, it didn't physically hurt anyone.