Most of us have probably seen those satisfying clips of various items being placed under a hydraulic press, seeing how the pressure affects them. Apple had the same idea for its new iPad ad, but it's mere crayons and slime. The company actually uses fairly expensive equipment.
Apple's Expensive Way to Make a Point
The ad titled "Crush!" starts off with a view of all the items that are about to be inevitably crushed by the hydraulic press, and it ranges from simple items like paint cans to an entire piano. As the press does its work, the camera pans to individual items showing the glorious crushing.
Fans of classic games may have felt their heart break a little as the Space Invaders arcade cabinet starts to crack from the pressure, and anyone who has an idea how expensive cameras are might've also shed a tear or two.
There were also monitors and camera lenses, which if you're unaware, can cost between $100 to $2,000. On top of musical instruments and players, there were also works of art that did not survive the industrial machine.
At the end of it all, the hydraulic press starts to ascend, revealing the newest iPad. "The most powerful iPad ever, is also the thinnest," says a voice-over at the end of the video, highlighting the point that the device is so thin that the hydraulic press missed it.
There are probably a lot of ways that Apple could've shown us how thin the device is without destroying perfectly good equipment and creative works, but hey, a trillion-dollar company could probably afford 20 more demonstrations like that.
While the simple point is that the functions of all these items are compressed in a small device like the iPad, people cannot help but wonder if Apple is oblivious to the unnecessary destruction of such items or what they represent.
People Are Reasonably Pissed
If only Apple had turned on the comments for the ad, there would likely be a plethora of negative comments taking shots at Apple for such a waste of usable items. Luckily for us, we still get to hear about what people think on other platforms like X.
As shown in Kotaku, several users have a lot to say about the ad, and most of them aren't exactly praises. X employee Mizuto Kato questioned who created and approved the ad. "Everyone in the studio was excited to see everything destroyed?" he added.
Another user pointed out that tech companies make their fortune destroying artists, and that Apple has created an ad that celebrates that. A definitive conclusion, but one sees the point seeing as Apple dedicated the ad to crushing instruments that create beautiful music.
In one post, a user shared a more direct criticism, where everything "beautiful, charming, and analog will be destroyed by a flat black screen," adding that a silicon slab and Apple CEO Tim Cook will "permanently stand between [you] and the world." It's safe to say that Apple could've done better.
