9to5Google pointed out that the Apple ad is a near exact copy of this LG ad from 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcUAQ2i5Tfo
The (accidental?) plagiarism of the ad is nearly as bad as the vibe.
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'
#52Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#53Aside 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.
"1984" was edgy in a cool way, but that's not the type of edginess I'm evoking. Most '90s video game commercials that were edgy did so in a puerile, juvenile way as befitting the target audience. And not just video game ads, there was definitely a big "xtreme" trend as well.
The Apple ad taps into that xtreme vibe by embracing destructive energy to depict a physical contrast. Which is visually attention-grabbing, but it puts the focus on the act of destruction, and reduction, and people who like the destroyed objects feel miffed.
"1984" I'd say was edgy in a rebellious way as you point out, which I'd argue gives it more substance. The sledgehammer hitting the screen isn't even the focus, it's the climax to a sequence that carries more of a meaningful message than "wow look how much functionality we fit into this thin shell."
Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#54Uh what’s the problem? The ad isn’t great, but why the pitchforks?
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Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#55Missing 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…
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Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#56Apple: We're so environmentally friendly!
Also Apple: We still use these fancy boxes that are a pain in the ass to recycle and will more than likely just end up in the trash anyway. They can't be reused for literally anything else because of their size, shape, and way they're glued together. Also, the materials aren't eco-friendly. But who cares because we stopped giving away power bricks and wrap the cables in paper instead of plastic! So Eco Friendly!
Also Apple: Let's take this pile of useful nice stuff, some of which has collector value, and smash it all to make a commercial.
Also they really need to get out of their own ass here. The iPad isn't a piano. The iPad isn't a guitar. You cannot replace any of those musical instruments with an iPad. You can't paint on canvas with an iPad, so destroying paint is silly.
I won't go with "sensitive" here. I see it as tasteless waste. That commercial is tacky AF. What are they trying to market the iPad to? "Fuck your feelings" types that just bought a new cybertruck and have more money than brains?
Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#57If a bunch of CGI objects being crushed is disturbing to people wait til they see this movie of a train coming directly at you.
What about the video makes you think it was CG?
Are you suggesting the emoji squeeze toy conveniently rolled perfectly to the edge of the hydraulic press at exactly the right moment and then its eyes uniformly popped out? A perfectly uniform explosion of dust actually burst out the press? Seems doubtful.
Re: Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
#58Missing 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…
Really interesting to consider that this might be one of the few incidents that Shintoists, or at least "cultural Shintoists," have gotten offended at a western production.
Makes me wonder if this is why Apple went out of their way to apologize for the ad. I think if this ad just had non-culturally-specific backlash, they would've simply moved on. But because this impacted a specific market's sensibilities, maybe they felt the need to do a public mea culpa.
Re: 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'
#60This 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…
Many artists now view the tech industry as a credible threat to their work and livelihood, because of AI. If you want them to buy your products, it’s probably a good idea to show some sensitivity to that concern.