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Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

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Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#42

Post by Apocryphon »

madrox wrote: post #38

This really shows how much sentiments about technology have changed in the last five or so years. If this ad came out in 2018 it would have been received differently, I think. The buzz has worn off. People don't see doing everything on your device as progress. iPads are no longer novel. Apple has been so used to growing new markets that I don't think they even know how to market when they're on top. All their best ad…

The (m)Ad Man's Dilemma

Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#43

Post by Apocryphon »

russellbeattie wrote: post #6

Another day, another stupid "controversy" where a few Twits complain on social media simply to get attention and publications pick it up as if it's a real issue. Why waste our time? Here's the ad: https://youtu.be/ntjkwIXWtrc

As noted elsewhere in this discussion, the ad attracted particular criticism from Japan for what it sounds like cultural-spiritual sensibilities.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cld0rxlqgggo

> 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".

https://twitter.com/AngelicaOung/status/1788241764383678900

> Everybody hated That Apple Ad but the Japanese REALLY hated it. I’ve never seen so many upset Japanese ppl commenting on a single thread

Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#44

Post by dorkwood »

tharkun__ wrote: post #20
noitpmeder wrote: post #8

It's a bit insane to me that Apple felt the need to "apologize"... so they made a crappy AD that didn't appeal to some audiences... is this really grounds for retractions/apologies these days?

I had no idea this ad existed until this came through here. But having watched it: seems totally fine. They're just playing "earth". To make diamonds you apply pressure. The iPad is the diamond resulting from crushing all that creativity into a tiny form factor. Or something like that.

I've seen a few people mistake the outrage felt by artists as them misunderstanding the concept. I'm an artist, and I understand the concept just fine (all these tools are squeezed into the form factor of an iPad! Our thinnest one ever!) but the visual itself is tone deaf. Especially with artists feeling so threatened by tech companies this year, using a metaphor that shows their tools quite literally being crushed is insensitive.

It's a bit like if you made a video that showed my dog getting crushed in a hydraulic press and replaced with a tamagotchi-like device. Like, I get the idea, but it still makes me want to cry.

Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#45

Post by smugma »

edkennedy wrote: post #28

Missing from this extremely short and underreported article is how badly this played out in Japanese market. The culture they have states that musical instruments, creative tools have some energy and imbued sense of spirit to them. So destroying these elements of culture is really really blunt and gauche to them. The majority of the push back came from Japanese people, and then artists empathizing with their sentimen…

I’ve seen a few comments about this. Is there any English page that documents this in more detail? I find it really interesting.

Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#46

Post by ak217 »

This reminds me of a Google Chromebook ad from a long time ago where they destroy 25 Chromebooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-Vnx58UYo

It felt so sad and tone deaf, a celebration of disposability. I don't think Google ever felt the need to apologize for that one, but then again it was a lot less... graphic than this new Apple ad. It's safe to say Apple outdid Google in this competition.

Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'

#49

Post by madrox »

Apocryphon wrote: post #27

Aside from the destruction of low-tech artistic tools triggering non-tech people aspect, tonally the ad was also overly edgy, which is off-brand for Apple. As noted elsewhere, it felt like a video game commercial from the '90s: gratuitous in its attention-seeking. https://twitter.com/cuniiform/status/1788013085392859171 And it's actually already been done before, by Nintendo: https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1788047…

1984 was edgy for its time. I think the difficulty is that the iPad is no longer an edgy product. The least edgy thing you could be these days is an iPad owner, and this ad wasn't the one to change that.
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