Who okayed the ‘Crush!’ video?
Apple’s new video was supposed to celebrate all the things your powerful new iPad Pro can do but it became a violent metaphor for technology crushing creativity and what it is to be human. And the anxieties around AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more → only made that worse.
TL;DR
Apple’s hopes for the video for the new iPad Pro got crushed. It wasn’t a big leap to see why crushing so many icons of human creativity and ingenuity wouldn’t go down so well – especially as community concern over AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more → ramps up.
This week Apple released a video titled ‘Crush!’ promoting their newest iPad Pro which hasn’t been taken very well by some people. Take a look.
The video shows a large machine press closing down on a range of objects. There is a lot of stuff on the flat bed. Here’s what I saw in there:
- a metronome
- DJ decks spinning a record
- a carry case for records
- a trumpet
- an arcade game
- a chalkboard with equations on it
- large paint tins in a number of colours
- an upright piano and sheet music
- an illuminated globe
- dual computer monitors with video editing software on screen
- a sculptural bust
- an easel and a canvas with a painting of a dog
- a drawing board with an illustration on paper
- an adjustable dress form, pin cushion and tape measure
- a spirit level
- an alarm clock
- a digital clock
- a desk lamp
- a chessboard
- an egg timer in the shape of a chicken
- a video game controller
- a guitar
- colourful guitar pedals
- a drum kit
- a drawing mannequin
- A ceramic Red from Angry Birds
- Angry Birds figurines
- cameras and lenses, including an DSLR and a instant camera
- an architectural model
- racks of acrylic paints
- paint brushes
- sticks of chalk
- pastel blocks
- a CRT TV
- Post-it sticky notes
- writing journals
- a typewriter
- a floor lamp
- a pile of stress balls depicting different smiley emojis.
The scene is destructive. Within the devastation a few object’s demise warrant specific mention. As the arcade game is crushed the screen flashes to ‘Game over’. The bust squashes down, folding backward from the neck. The old TV explodes in a flash of sparks and a puff of smoke. To top it off, the final object obliterated is a stress ball of the Flushed Face emoji. It rolls off the pile of emoji stress balls and stops just before it makes it off the edge. It stares directly and hopelessly at the viewer as its bulging eyes pop out on stalks.
Once the press is closed, all that remains is thick paint oozing off the edges of the flat bed. After all this chaos and mess, the machine press lifts and a sleek new iPad is all that is left sitting on a clean metal surface.
The intended meaning of the video is obvious: ‘look at all the things your new iPad can do.’ Two or three years ago and it is likely people would have got the message, but that’s not now many people took it. Rather, it was taken as the history of human creativity being crushed by technology.
Hugh Grant, for example, took to X saying, “The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.”
This reading is not surprising given the heightened anxieties in the arts and the wider community around AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more →.
As Dani Di Placido said on the Forbes:
“If one wanted to create a visual representation of the fear and anger directed against generative AIWhen text, images and other content are generated by AI (hence why it is called generative AI). Learn more →, it’s hard to imagine a more accurate depiction than Apple’s new iPad Pro commercial.”
Apple pulled plans to run the video as TV ads and issued an apology on Ad Age which reads:
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” said Tor Myhren, the company’s VP of marketing communications. “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.”
Concluding comments
If I had watched the video two years ago I suspect I would have seen it much the way Apple wanted. But with where the AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more → conversation is at in the arts and the community in general, I find it surprising that no one in Apple’s marketing team didn’t flag the potential for backlash.
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Useful links
Here’s some links I recommend that expand on ‘Crush!’ video controversy:
Apple’s iPad Pro ‘Crush’ Controversy, Explained
Forbes gives an overview of the controversy over the ‘Crush!’ video.
Dani Di Placido – Thursday 9 May 2024
Forbes
Apple apologizes for ipad pro ad that ‘missed the mark’
Ad Age reportage on an apology letter issued by Apple over the iPad Pro ‘Crush’ video.
Tim Nudd – Thursday 9 May 2024
Ad age
Apple apologises for crushing musical instruments in new iPad Pro advertisement
Another article about the ‘Crush’ iPad Pro.
Friday 10 May 2024
ABC News , Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Disclosure
AI use
This blog post was drafted using Google Docs. No part of the text of this blog post was generated using AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more →. The original text was not modified or improved using AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more →. No text suggested by AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more → was incorporated. If spelling or grammar corrections were suggested by AIAI is tech and marketing speak for a range of technology that imitates human intellect. Learn more → they were accepted or rejected based on my discretion (however, sometimes spelling, grammar and corrections of typos may have occurred automatically in Google Docs).
Credits
Screenshot: A scene from the Apple ‘Crush!’ iPad Pro video showing an arcade game buckling under the pressure of a machine press coming down on it. As the side of the cabinet bendings the screen shows ‘Game over’. © Apple, Inc, ‘Crush!’, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc. This material is excluded from the Creative Commons licence that applies to this blog post.
Provenance
This blog post was produced by Elliott Bledsoe from Agentry, an arts marketing micro-consultancy. It was first published on 11 May 2024. It has not been updated. This is version 1.0. Questions, comments and corrections are welcome – you can get Elliott on elliott@agentry.au.
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