Apple apologizes for the first time in history for an advertisement, the latest iPad Pro ad scares netizens

Recently, an "thrilling" advertisement from Apple has scared netizens.

On May 7th, Apple released an advertisement for the iPad Pro, showing an industrial press crushing items such as televisions, musical instruments, and books, and compressing them into the new iPad Pro. Below is the advertisement video:

However, this advertisement has sparked widespread criticism and ridicule on social media. Actor Hugh Grant even commented that the ad seemed to be promoting the "destruction of the human experience." Some netizens expressed that the crushed items in the ad, such as pianos and books, are symbols of culture and art. Transforming these cultural symbols into technological products through physical crushing seems to convey a negative message of culture being replaced or destroyed by technology.

Some people believe that given the rapid development of AI technology and the possibility of regulatory authorities splitting Apple's App Store, such advertisements are detrimental to Apple's image.

Due to the negative feedback, Apple's Vice President of Marketing Communications, Tor Myhren, issued a statement acknowledging that the ad did not achieve the expected effect and apologized for it. He emphasized that creativity is in our DNA, and Apple is always committed to inspiring creativity among global creators through its products. Additionally, Apple has also canceled the plan to air this ad on television.

Apple has an internal marketing team responsible for creating many advertisements, and also collaborates with the advertising agency Media Arts Lab for some advertising campaigns. It is currently unclear whether this iPad Pro ad was created by Apple or its advertising agency.

Although this ad is still on Apple CEO Tim Cook's Twitter account and has been viewed over 53 million times on social media, it has still had a significant impact on the positive image of the new iPad version and M4 chip launched by Apple this week. Some social media users have expressed that this ad has greatly reduced their perception of Apple products, with some even saying that it has made them consider "reducing the use of technology in their lives."

Netizens on social media X have been tagging @Tim Cook and stating:

"This is indeed the most chilling ad I have ever seen."

"This makes me want to sell my iPhone and iPad."