I’m having trouble processing what I just watched. It’s an ad from Apple about its new iPad. It turned my stomach. Then, it made me incredibly angry. Then, I was just sad.
The ad, which depicts instruments of creativity and creation being crushed by a gigantic press, ultimately reveals a new iPad – which, I guess, is supposed to demonstrate how all of the tools we use to create and consume art and music are combined to create an iPad.
To me, it is a horrifying declaration of how Apple thinks about the creative community. It will probably still be online when you read this. Maybe Apple is proud of their work. I don’t know. It makes me sick. (Apple apologized in a statement to Ad Age yesterday.)
I was born into the music business (my parents owned music stores and were music educators). From the earliest age, I was taught to respect every musical instrument. If you don’t play, you may not understand the intimate, symbiotic relationship between an artist and their tools – but it is profound.
So, Tim, I’m asking you directly: Is this what you think of the creative community? Is it your goal to crush us? To crush the life out of our instruments? To literally crush our souls?
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.