Apple is apologizing for its advertisement promoting its latest iPad Pro after widespread blowback online.
In a statement obtained by advertising industry publication Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the ad’s message failed to connect.
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren said. “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.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment. CNBC confirmed the statement’s authenticity. Apple won’t run the ad on TV, according to Ad Age.
The ad, released Tuesday, features an industrial press crushing mostly analog modes of expression like a trumpet, piano, a camera, cans of paint, and an upright video game console while Sonny & Cher’s “All I Ever Need Is You’ plays in the background.
The ad was posted on X by Apple CEO Tim Cook with a caption that read in part; ‘Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create.’
Online criticism of the ad was nearly universal, with many observers pointing out that while it may have intended to portray the manifold capabilities of the product, it seemed to signify technology as a force for destroying human agency in creative endeavors.
One creative director compared the ad unfavorably to another infamous Apple ad: The one first advertised for the original Macintosh computer. Directed by Ridley Scott, the spot, called ‘1984,’ depicted Apple as saving the world from a mechanized, dystopian nightmare.
“Apple’s new iPad spot is essentially them turning into the thing they said they were out to destroy in the 1984 ad,” Christopher Slevin, creative director for marketing agency Inkling Culture, wrote on LinkedIn.
