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.
Apple boss Tim Cook has been called tone deaf for his post on X, formerly Twitter, about the device, where he asked people to “imagine all the things it’ll be used to create”.
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.
It does this by using a video theme that has been around for almost a decade of musical instruments being crushed.
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
Actor Hugh Grant labelled it “the destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley”.
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.
Crushing a piano, trumpet & guitar evokes the same primal horrific sacrilege as watching books burn.
Surprisingly tone-deaf from Apple, who’ve previously enabled & championed creativity.
But I imagine they’ll see how out of tune this is once they turn off the autotune. https://t.co/ZdRmVrcOZl
— Crispin Hunt (@crispinhunt) May 9, 2024
The comments underneath Mr Cook’s post on X have been particularly negative, with one person calling it “extremely distasteful”, and another saying it makes them feel “ashamed to buy Apple products”.
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”.
Many craftsmen value their tools.
Musicians value their instruments, architects value their rulers, painters value their brushes and painting materials more than life itself. The video you presented “all in one”, but it will only disgust them. They may never want to engage with…— 高杉＠沼を駆けだすエンジニア (@takasugi_mbsjk) May 7, 2024
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.
One user said the new ad was “almost quite literally the exact opposite” of it, and another said it showed Apple had “become the faceless culture crashing force they rallied against in 1984”.
And for one person, it was “a visual and metaphorical bookend” to the original advert.
Apple’s new “Crush” ad (let’s call it “2024”) is a visual & metaphorical bookend to the 1984 ad.
1984: Monochome, conformist, industrial world exploded by colourful, vibrant human
2024: Colourful, vibrant humanity is crushed by monochrome, conformist industrial press pic.twitter.com/p0yqQ8ZGYL
— James Clark 📈📉¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@mr_james_c) May 8, 2024