- Author, Tom Gerken
- Role, Technology reporter
Apple is facing a backlash online over an advert in which objects including musical instruments and books are crushed into oblivion by a hydraulic press.
The video is meant to demonstrate how their creativity has been compressed into the latest iPad.
But celebrities including Hugh Grant and Justine Bateman have reacted with horror to the destruction on view.
The BBC has approached Apple for comment.
The advert attempts to show what Apple’s latest tablet is capable of, such as watching television programmes, listening to music and playing video games, while making the point that the new device is particularly thin.
However, in this instance, it seem the tech giant has also succeeded in mangling its own reputation, with complainants saying the ad actually shows how tech is stifling creativity rather than encouraging it
The criticism is particularly pointed because of the concerns in many of the creative industries about artificial intelligence (AI) taking people’s jobs.
Actor and film-maker Justine Bateman, a vocal critic of the use of AI in the film industry, said Apple’s ad was “crushing the arts.”
Multi-platinum selling songwriter Crispin Hunt called the act of destroying musical instruments evocative of burning books.
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People based in Japan appear to be prominent amongst the critics, which some said “lacked respect”.
Some said this was based in “tsukumogami” – a term from Japanese folklore describing a tool which can contain a spirit or even soul of its own.
“The act of destroying tools is arrogant and offensive to us Japanese,” one person explained, while another said musicians value their instruments “more than life itself”.
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The video has also drawn unfavourable comparisons with one of Apple’s most famous adverts, which aired in 1984.
In a nod to its year of release (and the novel by George Orwell), the ad depicts an athlete fighting back against a dystopian future.
And for one person, it was “a visual and metaphorical bookend” to the original advert.
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