back to article Apple crushes creativity and its reputation in new iPad ad

"This is who we are, this is what we stand for," said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs shortly before he relaunched the company in 1997 with its iconic Think Different marketing campaign. This week, the consumer tech giant showed the world its true colors and some were not impressed. Launching the latest iPad ad campaign, Apple CEO …

  1. simonlb Silver badge
    FAIL

    Crushing Human Creativity

    They have a long history of doing this with their numerous patent infringement lawsuits claiming prior art for corners and other stuff.

    1. FIA Silver badge

      Re: Crushing Human Creativity

      That’s suing people for copying, which is the opposite of being creative.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Crushing Human Creativity

        Sueing to protect their revenue for anything that might be vaguely possibly similar to something they claim to have invented even when their invention is merely a copy of what came before.

        FTFY

        Apple have legally proven form for copying other creatives works and claiming it as their own and loosing.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Crushing Human Creativity

          The ultimate hipster move...

          "We were copying things long before China made it cool".

          1. FIA Silver badge

            Re: Crushing Human Creativity

            The ultimate hipster move...

            "We were copying things long before China made it cool".

            Ooo, that's a good one, I must go and write that down, now where's my paper....

        2. FIA Silver badge

          Re: Crushing Human Creativity

          Sueing to protect their revenue for anything that might be vaguely possibly similar to something they claim to have invented even when their invention is merely a copy of what came before.

          It was a trademark dispute. One which they won.

          Apple have legally proven form for copying other creatives works and claiming it as their own and loosing.

          So, Apple shouldn't copy other's trademarks or creative works, but if someone does it to them it's okay because??

          I'm really confused now, is it evil to copy or not to copy??

          Can I point out too, the round corners thing, which was related to other UI aspects too, they were suing Samsung... not some small 1 person outfit... they were suing a company so large it makes 10% of a countries GDP.

          Again, which large faceless multi national am I supposed to feel ire towards here??

      2. pimppetgaeghsr

        Re: Crushing Human Creativity

        Does that apply to them stealing all of Imagination Technologies graphics IP?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Crushing Human Creativity

        "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

        - Steve Jobs (quoting Picasso)

      4. MrDamage
        Facepalm

        Re: Crushing Human Creativity

        >> "That’s suing people for copying, which is the opposite of being creative."

        People who live in glass houses....

        https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/technology/braun-or-apple

  2. Headley_Grange Silver badge

    In other news, Andrex puppy to be put down for wasting paper and contributing to climate change.

    1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

      Surely we could recover some carbon used to grow the puppy by eating it?

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Joke

        Hot dogs?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I thought Andrex was made out of dogs and the advert showed a puppy trying to get his mum back, but sadly his mum is now a loo roll.

    2. MiguelC Silver badge
      1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

        As long as she's not tickling my belly and feeding me kibble.

        1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

          Never know, Donald may not mind, but only if he picks her as running mate

    3. GraXXoR Bronze badge

      Kristi Noem enters the chat.

  3. IanTP
    Pint

    Correction

    The corrections link has vanished, so

    Paragraph 7, line 1 Huge Grant should read Hugh Grant, does no one proof read anymore?

    Beer because its Friday

    1. MrBanana

      Re: Correction

      It may raise his eyebrow in a wry British fashion, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

    2. tfewster
      Pint

      Re: Correction

      The "Send corrections" link is at the top of the comments page.

      But I'm not going to send a correction myself as a) I didn't spot it and b) it's hilarious when you do, so should be left in.

    3. xyz Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Correction

      Another correction...

      Beer because it's Friday.

      Tut, tut.

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: Correction

        Ah, Muphry’s Law strikes again.

      2. Montreal Sean
        Pint

        Re: Correction

        Correction :

        Beer because it's beer.

    4. TimMaher Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Huge Grant.

      Beat me to it except, I was going to say, “Huge Grunt” surely?

    5. Vometia has insomnia. Again.

      Re: Correction

      I always read his name as Huge Rant anyway, mostly because I'm easily amused.

    6. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Oof

      I can't stand Hugh Grant. He's a huge grunt in my opinion.

      Anyway it's fixed. Don't forget to drop corrections@ an email if you spot anything wrong so it can be fixed. Ta.

      C.

      1. doublerot13

        Re: Oof

        You're kidding??? Hugh Grant is consistently brilliant, and seems like a great laugh in real life too.

        You're just jealous because he dated Liz Hurley :D

    7. Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch Silver badge

      Re: Correction

      If Milligan were still around, it would have been Hugh Jampton.

  4. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "Our goal is to always "

    . . make more money.

    Come on, Apple. You don't care about promoting anything but your share price. Everything else is just a thin veneer of feel-good in order to maintain the Alternate Reality Field your customers live in.

    And this time, you let that veneer crack.

  5. werdsmith Silver badge

    Given how there are people on social media lying in wait to ambush anything and anyone over the slightest mistake, this was pretty tone deaf by Apple marketing and their sub-contracted creative agency.

    Can't do this stuff anymore, the path ahead is made of eggshells.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      I'm looking forward to a whole series of adverts in the same vein, I do hope Apple decide to continue with adverts like:

      - Children with iPhones bullying their peers though social media causing mental anguish

      - Middle class people using Just Eat, Deliveroo, and Uber apps on their iPhones and treat workers who deliver these services like subhuman cogs in a machine

      - Someone who bought a Mac which breaks taking it back to the Genius Bar and being told they need to pay 75% of its retail price to get it fixed

      - Demonstrating Foxconn workers beaten by state police until they go back to work

      - Apple management interrogating staff in the US about whether or not they belong to a union

      Etc, etc...

      1. sebacoustic

        enough material for a bunch of film students' class projects. They'd better get James McGill to direct.

  6. Cruachan Bronze badge

    Saw the story and the celebrity outrage on a few websites and had a laugh, didn't know till know it was also a rip-off of a 15 year old LG campaign too.

    Never been a fan of the musical instrument smashing even when musicians do it, I'm sure it was an impressive statement back when Hendrix and The Who did it, but feels a bit old hat now.

    1. cornetman Silver badge

      Some time ago, it was suggested to me that as a solo piece in an upcoming concert, I could try a piece called "Metamorphosis for Trumpet and Lump Hammer.". It involves playing a piece of music punctuated by the gradual destruction of the instrument by a large hammer. The idea is that you need to employ increasing ingenuity to continue getting music out of it until it becomes practically impossible.

      It's an interesting idea, but I said that I could never, in all conscience, ever wantonly destroy a working instrument in that manner just for a single performance. It seems incredibly wrong, even if it is very old and on its last legs.

      1. Cruachan Bronze badge

        I know a lot of people don't like Metallica in general, and don't like Kirk Hammett owning "Greeny", the guitar previously owned by Peter Green and Gary Moore. I'd like to hope though that there is appreciation for the instrument still being played both in the studio and on stage, rather than hanging on a collectors wall as it did until Hammett bought it.

        Fair enough if the instruments can no longer be played, for example Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitars are well known to have needed new necks regularly as his style of aggressive string bending meant his guitars needed to be re-fretted often.

  7. LenG

    A long and steady decline ...

    When I first became involved with home tech I was very pleased with my Apple IIe, complete with a mass of 3rd party plug ins and some howebrewed mods. My respect for the company took a beating with the launch of the Apple III and has been in decline ever since. The only thing I would use an IPad for is scraping mud off my boot as, unlike a piece of card, it would not get soggy.

  8. Pete 2 Silver badge

    More wail than fail

    > We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry

    OTOH it has generated more column inches from the chatterati than much of their other marketing output

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. lucss21a

    Opinon: A reflection of modern society

    Maybe it is also a reflection of modern society after all? I mean destroying creativeness isn't limited to Apple but probably any tech companies. Look at what they did on translucent colorful designs of the late 90s to various shades of gray on a rounded rectangle of the late 2010s.

    Maybe a better way to say this is that modern society limits creativity. But it's just me after all.

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Opinon: A reflection of modern society

      Another reflection on modern society is that a dumb but largely harmless ad casued such a stir, because people on the internet is desperate to be outraged about something -anything- all the time.

      There you have it, me deffending Apple. I feel dirty

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Re: Opinon: A reflection of modern society

        Upvote because, yes, so many people seem so willing to scream their heads off at the slightest perceived upset.

        I swear to whatever gods I know the names of, these people would not have survived the playground in the eighties...

      2. lucss21a

        Re: Opinon: A reflection of modern society

        Yeah I guess. But it is still an opinion though, everyone can agree-disagree on something.

      3. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: Opinon: A reflection of modern society

        That really depends what the general attitude was. If they were offended, I'll agree with you. I haven't looked in many places, but I have seen no offended people although Apple's response is the kind of thing they'd say if there were. If, however, those complaining just thought it was really stupid and counterproductive, then they're right. Not offensive, but I can find few ways to make a worse advertisement that wouldn't be.

    2. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: Opinon: A reflection of modern society

      Why does a more utilitarian design limit creativity? Was the translucent design important? What I remember about stuff designed like that was that, aesthetics aside, they usually used plastic that broke easily. I've seen laptops with cracked cases even without it being subjected to unusual physical abuse. That is far from the only time where focusing on the aesthetics made the product worse, something that Apple repeatedly did wrong. Surely the creativity is in what you can do with it, not what box it's in?

      Of course, there are many designers who will tell you that the latest iPhone casing was inspired by a rich tradition of art and evokes the spirit of discovery. They'll say more things but this is about the point where I switch off the video.

  11. Saint Geli

    "The ad was not even original"

    Back in the 80s, didn't Alan Sugar launch the Amstrad PCW by showing a pile of typewriters being dumped?

    1. DryBones

      I would posit that the switch from typewriters to computers let you do the same thing the same way but better.

      Mechanical linkage to electronics, the action of fingers to keys is the same.

      So that doesn't really hit for me the same as saying, "We can replace this entire orchestra with a fondleslab."

      1. nintendoeats

        Perhaps more to the point, there was really nothing socially unnacceptable about saying "word processors are better than typewriters. The writing was absolutely on the wall for the typewriter and ~everybody knew it.

      2. MachDiamond Silver badge

        "So that doesn't really hit for me the same as saying, "We can replace this entire orchestra with a fondleslab.""

        One of my favorite albums right now is a re-make of some songs from The Aristocrats with the Primuz Chamber Orchestra. There's session videos of the orchestra recording the tracks and they are mainly very young musicians and very talented. They have a live video of a performance of King Crimson's Vroom, Vroom that goes to show classical instruments aren't dead (and a really cute blonde cellist seems to be having all sorts of fun). The String Demons have done a cover of an Iron Maiden song that shows what human creativity can do with a violin and a cello. Steve and Edie's version of Black Hole Sun on the Lounge-a-polooza is jaw dropping.

        Humans make things that humans can use and relate to. AI does not have that internal reference and never will even if it can simulate it to some extent. Humans are 'trained' on interesting combinations of things that aren't remembered exactly, morph over time and produce different results according to mood and number of pints (shots, magnums, etc). Would you train an AI that you want to write heavy metal songs on nothing but previous heavy metal songs? What happens if you toss in some Les Brown and His Band of Renown along with Romeo Void, and a sampling of bird song? Would any of that result in a song that more than a dozen people like and will pay money for?

        1. David 132 Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          Speaking of creativity, I was recently rather impressed when I found this recording of Orkestra Obsolete playing New Order's "Blue Monday" on 1930s-tech instruments. Really very clever.

          1. MachDiamond Silver badge

            " Orkestra Obsolete playing New Order's "Blue Monday""

            That's a great one!

          2. X5-332960073452
            Happy

            Thank you, wonderful.

      3. Missing Semicolon Silver badge

        The PCW really was designed as a typewriter replacement. It was only incidentally a computer.

    2. PB90210 Silver badge

      To be fair, he did try fitting typewriters with disks, but couldn't get 8" disks to fit the form factor

  12. Zibob Silver badge

    Those garden walls are high indeed.

    --Either way, it may be a sign that quality has slipped at the brand once considered the gold standard in marketing.--

    If this is the first you noticing of it says a lot about the perception abilities and wider world knowledge of apple users.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Zibob - Re: Those garden walls are high indeed.

      Newcomer to St. Peter : What is behind this wall ?

      St. Peter : It's Catholics. They like to believe they're the only ones here.

      More or less accurate from one of Dave Allen's sketches.

      1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: @Zibob - Those garden walls are high indeed.

        @AC

        It's right at the end of this compilation ~12:18. The link should open the video at that point.

        https://youtu.be/mYXenjpefNU?t=738s

        Icon: rewind to the first item. A beer for you and a double gin and tonic...

  13. Jurassic.Hermit

    Another bite of the Apple

    They're going to need to redo their logo, take another bite or two out of that apple.

    No doubt Steve will be turning in his grave or urn at what 'Tim Dim But Nice' just did.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Thinnest ever iPad

    I should have thought of this earlier but which version of the iPad has the distinction of being thinner than the stack of $100 bills needed to pay for it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Serge Over-Clocker - Re: Thinnest ever iPad

      May I have one three times thicker for a third of that price ?

    2. cornetman Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Thinnest ever iPad

      > Serge Over-Clocker

      When I read your user name, I initially thought it was "Serger, Overlocker" which are two names for a type of sewing machine. That's quite the coincidence.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Re: Thinnest ever iPad

        The sewing machine pun was deliberate. Just something that popped into my head at random one time.

  15. theOtherJT Silver badge

    Apple have always been a bit...

    ...how to put this kindly...

    ...Inconsistent.

    They've made a bunch of really great things over the years, and while they're certainly not above claiming credit for "inventing" things that they most definitely just lifted from someone else, they have done a lot to popularize and standardize those good ideas, even if they didn't actually invent them.

    But it's hardly been hit after hit, if we're honest, has it? The Newton. The Pippin (does anyone even remember that they made that?) The cube that overheated if you looked at it wrong. The original macbook air where they sort of... forgot to add any ports to it. The original ipod shuffle which literally couldn't play an alum in the right order. The dustbin where you could in theory upgrade the GPU, but not in practice because it was a weird form factor and they never had any available.

    1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      Re: Apple have always been a bit...

      I bought an iPad Pro when they first came out because I thought that the pencil would let me use it like a real notebook. The handwriting recognition wasn't native, then, and was rubbish enough to be useless. It's much better now, but I can still type faster on keyboard than I can write with an iPad pencil. It's also annoying how many apps are still iPhone aspect ratio only. Now I only use it when I'm on holiday and don't want to take my Mac, more in fear of it getting nicked than size or weight. In effect it's just a phone with a bigger screen that I can use to book hotels and use the web to plan or find stuff to do. The pencil is probably in my junk-tech drawer along with the little adapter to charge it. Having said that, I bought the iPad in 2016 and it's still getting updates and I don't notice any performance issues. Looking at the prices now they are bloody expensive considering that, for my usage, they are little more than a big phone and come the day that I have to replace it then I'd probably get the cheapest Macbook Air - it's not much bigger and much more useful.

    2. cipnt

      Why stop there?

      Why stop at the trash can mac pro?

      The subsequent non-upgradable mac pro tower is just as bad, or that monitor stand amd those wheels that cost more than a laptop. Each.

      Should I mention that new VR headset? Too soon?

  16. Howard Sway Silver badge

    accused the ad of "crushing human creativity"

    Now there's an idea - have the next ad consist of a load of advertising and marketing "creatives" put in the crusher instead. Then for further atonement you need a new more honest catchphrase. "Apple : Not really that special, just much more expensive" would fit the bill.

    1. Cruachan Bronze badge

      Re: accused the ad of "crushing human creativity"

      A re-enactment of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's marketing department being first against the wall when the revolution comes is likely to appeal to a lot of techies.

      1. nintendoeats

        Re: accused the ad of "crushing human creativity"

        Not really related, but I was watching an episode of Murder She Wrote last night where they spent a lot of time at the "Serious Cybernetics Corporation". I just about died.

        It also had the distinction of being the only thing I've ever seen where computers featured heavily in the plot and they didn't make any errors. So credit to J. Fletch for that one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: accused the ad of "crushing human creativity"

          It’s why we’re all here….. Share and enjoy ….

          1. David 132 Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: accused the ad of "crushing human creativity"

            Go Stick Your Head In A Pig.

  17. abend0c4 Silver badge

    Jobs said: "This is who we are..."

    Weirdly, the new campaign probably reflects Jobs' personal values rather better.

  18. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
    Megaphone

    Yet the damage has been done

    Has it? Has it really?

    I doubt this absurd ad would appear as a blip in Apple's next financial statement. Much less that all the people foaming at the mouth because of it will renounce to their iThings out of principle.

    How many of them actually used iPhones and iPads to vent their anger in Twitter against Apple, I wonder...

  19. deaglecat

    Brand sentiment may be faltering.

    This just a minor PR mis-step...maybe, but customer sentiment is key when selling products at premium prices based on brand value.

    And these sort of issues are often symptoms of a wider/deeper problem.

    1. Lurko

      Re: Brand sentiment may be faltering.

      Unless it was an intentional high-risk campaign, knowing that there might be a few complaints, but the net publicity value will be greater than the safe alternative. I'll wager that Hugh Grant and the other whingers with time on their hands aren't Android afficionados, and they won;t be going without the latest shiney just because they don't like the vibe of an advert.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Brand sentiment may be faltering.

        If everyone boycotted a company and it's products forever just because of some complaint or other about the company, we'd all be living in caves.

        It's ok to complain about something and then continue using it. The world isn't blank and white and never the twain shall meet. It's ok to dislike someone or something and not be a "hater" because "hate" is a very strong word which seems to have been diluted significantly since the stupid "haters gonna hate" phrase became popular with some demographics. Complaining about a company or product is how they get fixed. You don't have to "hate" them and boycott them. Admittedly, in the current age of "super companies" making so much money that they don't have to listen to or act on complaints make that more difficult in cases like Apple, but sometimes, just sometimes, it takes a bit public "outrage" with 'slebs involved to get them to take notice of the (relatively speaking) ant they just stepped on.

  20. Groodles
    Holmes

    Storm in a tea cup.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      "Storm in a tea cup."

      Helen Czerski's book?

  21. Zippy´s Sausage Factory
    Meh

    They could have fixed it easily.

    Show the crusher. Let it sink in for a few seconds.

    Voiceover: "Is this the world you want to live in?" (pause) "We don't"

    Show the ipad, with the voice over "the new iPad - thinnest, lightest ever, with the new M4 chip. Live your dreams, don't crush them."

    End with the Apple logo and "Think Different".

    I just realised I should have been in advertising... I'm not saying I'm any good at it, merely that I seem to be soulless and callous.

    1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      They could have showed all those tools being pushed elegantly inside an iPad. The Jobs era marketing would have shown them passing in with a cute bubble jiggle effect, then happily swirling around doing what they do.

      That's not really Apple, though. Destroying what they don't approve of is their style. I'm so tired of their batshit insane fanbase that still talks about professional cameras and music gear being worthless compared to an iPhone, or how Macs only need 16 GB of RAM to be superior to a supercomputer.

      1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

        Amazing people actually arguing who or what is the better marketing.. marketting what does that word actually mean ... bullshit, thats right, people are arguing who is better liar, like it actually matters in anyway.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Marketing means people talking about you as opposed to your competitors.

          As for musical instruments I am sure there are a whole bunch that would gladly trash offspring’s / neighbours violins, trumpets and drum kits without batting an eyelid

          1. David 132 Silver badge
            Happy

            I tell them, “I work all day and evening, when’s a guy supposed to practice the bagpipes, huh?”

            1. jonathan keith

              There are two passages in Three Men And A Boat concerning the playing of musical instruments that are among the funniest writing I have ever read. (Your mileage may vary.)

              This and this.

          2. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

            AC: Marketing means people talking about you as opposed to your competitors.

            Cow: And what are those same marketting people saying ?

            My answer of BULLSHIT remains true, you are trying to avoid the truthful answer.

    2. Mage Silver badge
      Flame

      the new iPad - thinnest

      Stupidly thin.

      Also apple screens are too shiny. Matt surface screen tech is really old, but shiny is cheap and looks more impressive. But will give you a headache as you unconsciously focus on further off reflections.

    3. Bartholomew

      > I just realised I should have been in advertising...

      If you are in advertising then you are in marketing!

      And if you are in marketing then you should watch this highly educational youtube video by the late "Bill Hicks on "Marketing"" (NSFW)

  22. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

    Are these the same people that dont notice that America has been worshipping tim cook a boring man for 20 years ?

    Yeh talk about being creative whilst praising a ceo for 20 years and pretending he does everything at Apple.. yeh thats creative.

    1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

      > America has been worshipping tim cook a boring man [..] pretending he does everything at Apple[..] for 20 years ?

      Have they? Jobs certainly *was* viewed and treated in that cult-like manner.

      However, Cook isn't Jobs, and I never got the impression that people *really* cared about him personally that much, so much as the fact he's in charge of- and the main representative of- Apple itself, which is the true focus of their worship.

      Arguably Jobs was more deserving of it. For all that he certainly *didn't* do the hard work on the products he's often credited with, he at least had the focus and vision to drive things like the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Since his death twelve years ago- and under Cook- Apple doesn't seem to have come up with anything fundamentally new in terms of product design or category, instead focusing on refinements of their existing lines.

      The biggest innovation Apple have launched under Cook would probably be the M1-series CPUs and their successors, and while that's a significant development for the underlying hardware, it's not a paradigm-shifting change in terms of the end product.

      1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

        Cook is treated like a cult leader, maye not on the same level as Jobs, but he is in that category. He gets a lot more views than other americans.

        MS: Arguably Jobs was more deserving of it. For all that he certainly *didn't* do the hard work on the products he's often credited with, he at least had the focus and vision to drive things like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

        cow: Says who ?

        DO you really believe he did everything for those products ?

        I always thought Apple had thousands of software and hw engineers who did that...

        MS: The biggest innovation Apple have launched under Cook would probably be the M1-series CPUs and their successors, and while that's a significant development for the underlying hardware, it's not a paradigm-shifting change in terms of the end product.

        COW: How many thousands of engineers worked on the m1 ?

        I bet you Cook wouldnt even know how many registers the m1 had, and yet you think its all Cook.

        American media has done a good job into brainwashing you into believing its all about Cook or Jobs or any other CEO... those other engineers obviously contributed nothing.

        1. doublelayer Silver badge

          Can you be bothered to read and understand what people write before you get angry at them for it? You're hammering the "Jobs/Cook didn't do everything" point in response to someone who specifically said that they didn't do everything. You should know that because you quoted them saying it.

          Them: he certainly *didn't* do the hard work on the products he's often credited with

          Your reply: DO you really believe he did everything for those products ?

          No, they really don't think he did all the work on those, hence why they said that. You get very hostile at points even when those points agree with your original comment.

          Where they may have disagreed with you is how much the Jobs adherents feel the same way about Cook. You may have a different opinion, but by challenging them on the things you agree on, you make it harder to make a case for your view because we've all seen that you view your opinion as so important that you ignore what they're saying in a rush to defend something nobody asked you to defend.

          1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

            That's CowHorseFrog all over. They previously compared MS's lack of credit for individual programmers to Hitler's dehumanisation of concentration camp victims(!)

            Then when they got called out on how grossly inappropriate that was, ignored/missed *that* point - even when it was restated- and responded in almost exactly the same manner, as if the disagreement was on the- trifling in comparison- original point and everyone but them was a gullible pro-corporate whore.

            *rollseyes*

            1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

              @Michael

              That's CowHorseFrog all over. They previously compared MS's lack of credit for individual programmers to Hitler's dehumanisation of concentration camp victims(!)

              cow:

              Like all liars you take things out of context and misrepresent what I said.

              I simply asked the question why the article refuses to name the actual programmers and you dont seem to grasp the WHY.

              Have you ever bothered to ASK why articles in the media constantly NAME ceos and almost NEVER NAME the actual people who did the engineering etc ?

              Are you blind that you dont understand the REASONING why this is happening.. its not an accident, this strategy has a purpose.

              1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

                You "simply asked the question why the article refuses to name the actual programmers" alongside this comment...

                > "Hitler gave people in the camps numbers to dehumanize them, microsoft doesnt even give the people who wrote the code a number or name."

                ...in the same post. Here's a link to your original comment and the start of the thread for anyone who wants to see your comments (and mine) in context.

                > I simply asked the question why the article refuses to name the actual programmers and you dont seem to grasp the WHY.

                On the contrary, you don't seem to grasp "WHY" no-one was interested in your bee-in-your-bonnet rant about employee credit- legitimate or otherwise- when you yourself were the one who rendered it inconsequential and banal by comparing it to the fate of concentration camp victims. FFS (again).

                But we've been here before- see thread above.

                1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

                  michael: On the contrary, you don't seem to grasp "WHY" no-one was interested in your bee-in-your-bonnet rant about employee credit- legitimate or otherwise- when you yourself were the one who rendered it inconsequential and banal by comparing it to the fate of concentration camp victims. FFS (again).

                  cow: I do grasp, the problem is YOU dont have the brains to understand why corporate america pushes this self promotion of ceos.

                  Try and answer why its so important that ONLY they get their names mentioned...

                  Giving themselves all the Credit also means they can try and grab all the bonuses....

                  Theres always a reason, its not an accident.

            2. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

              Good one Michael.. i said this and that according too you and yet you cannot actually quote anything.

              1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

                It's harder to post links from my phone (which I used for that post). But since you ask:-

                Link to the first post in the thread where you said:-

                "Hitler gave people in the camps numbers to dehumanize them, microsoft doesnt even give the people who wrote the code a number or name"

                Link to another comment further down that thread that shows you ignoring the actual criticism, and acting self-righteously despite missing the point, which is that you were a tone-deaf, Nazi-trivialising halfwit.

        2. Michael Strorm Silver badge

          Double layer already mostly said what I was going to in their response. However...

          "cow: Says who"

          I did. Just there...!

          "DO you really believe he did everything for those products ?"

          Er, no. I explicitly acknowledged that he didn't! Did you bother paying attention to that?

          You're so keen to rant that everyone is a gullible tool brainwashed by the American media that you don't pay attention to what was *actually* said.

          I say this, because it played out almost exactly the same way when I responded to you on a previous occasion (see my reply to Double layer's response above).

          1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

            Michael: You're so keen to rant that everyone is a gullible tool brainwashed by the American media that you don't pay attention to what was *actually* said.

            I say this, because it played out almost exactly the same way when I responded to you on a previous occasion (see my reply to Double layer's response above)

            COW: No.

            You dont appreciate the asnwer focuses on ONE item, and fails to understand the WHY .

            You never address the WHY

  23. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    I remember some "artist" flattening brass instruments with a steam roller to make an "artwork" many years ago. The V&A, to what should have been their shame, displayed the product. For all I know it might still be there.

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      High end art defies logic and reason. I mean, some guy nailed a banana to the wall (until a hungry visitor ate it).

      Personally, I interpret all of this as creative people massively taking the piss out of those who would look at a load of crushed instruments and write many column inches about how that speaks to the human condition (but, hey, these days can't you just use AI to write that rubbish?).

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Or, for that matter the Banksy "art" that self-shredded as the auction hammer went down. Was the "art" the drawing or the act of "vandalism" in mostly destroying the drawing?

      I'm clearly not an "artist" as I just don't understand the point of those kind of stunts. They are more like marketing than art.

      1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

        > "Was the "art" the drawing or the act of "vandalism" in mostly destroying the drawing?"

        Yes.

        Looks like just another example of conceptual art, whatever you think of conceptual art as an, er... concept.

  24. littletijn
    FAIL

    I would have fired the marketing departement

    Where is the line of people walking in a straight line like lemmings/sheep to the latest Apple Store to buy the newest greatness, while holding the previous model like a big brick? They can include some nice pictures of trade-ins and recycling of perfectly working kit and a Apple Care subscription for the inevitable moment their ultra thin slab will break.

    No wonder this commercial did fail.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: I would have fired the marketing departement

      "Where is the line of people walking in a straight line like lemmings/sheep to the latest Apple Store to buy the newest greatness"

      It's all online these days grandad!! No need to queue up overnight in the pouring rain or baking heat for the latest shiny when you can virtually queue online, waiting to see if if all that time checking your status was successful.

  25. Falmari Silver badge
    Devil

    A different interpretation

    I saw it as all those items being crushed down to form the iPad. The message the ad conveyed to me was the all the things those items let you do the iPad lets you do them all*. In other words 'all you ever need is an iPad'. Want to create music the iPad has has the tools, create art ditto, play games iPad has games etc.

    While a lot of the items crushed were creative tools "trumpet, guitar, sculpture modeling clay, piano, drawing board, paints, a metronome, several analog cameras there were many that were not, Video game cabinet, record deck, spirit level, globe of the world, desk lamp, TV. Crushing human creativity I just can't see it.

    Anyway destroying creative tools has been used creatively, I have seen both, guitar and piano destroyed on stage and have been to an art exhibition where some of the artist's work included broken and dismantled camera parts **.

    *Of course I don't buy that it's not replacement for guitar, piano etc. But metronome, sure, after all when I need a metronome I use the one on my phone.

    **Well that's the Tate Modern for you. ;)

  26. Blackjack Silver badge

    Honesty Apple keeps their motto of selling less for more. No charger, usb cable, manual, stickers, headphone jack or sim card included, it all costs extra or not sold anymore.

    Yes they are removing the stickers all with the lame excuse of using less plastic when the stickers don't need plastic bags, they can easily fit in a paper bag or a paper letter but nope, want stickers? Pay extra!

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple are dead to me

    I haven’t forgiven them for discontinuing the iPod Classic!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey Chat - you promised it was an original hallucination!

    Hey ChatGPT, Create for me a original slide sequence for an ad for our new model very thin laptop - it should show all the creativity that this laptop enables.

    (Buzz .... click click .... Buzz). Here you are!

    Oh that's great! Oh wow, so creative! I just want to make sure - you did hallucinate this yourself, didn't you? I could lose my job if it's plagiarized.

    Absolutely, this is a completely original work of art - I created this myself out of whole cloth.

    1. Trigun

      Re: Hey Chat - you promised it was an original hallucination!

      Why did I have the voice of GlaDOS in my mind when reading that? lol

  29. MikeLivingstone

    Apple stifles innovation with naff products

    Apple's products have been getting worse for the last decade. I unfortunately have been issued a Mac for work and it rubbish compared against a Lenovo Carbon running Ubuntu. I've recently ditched my private iPhone for a Samsung and it is much better. Just waiting to change my work phone, where I'll do the same.

  30. 45RPM Silver badge

    I know this might be (will be) an unpopular opinion - but in a world where the art of the apology has been forgotten and miscreants just double down on their crimes, I want to give Apple kudos for saying “Whoops. We f’d up”. As I tell my kids, often it’s not the mistake / naughtiness that I care about - it’s the unwillingness to admit it and apologise that riles me.

    Still. Does it need to be this thin? Does anyone care? I doubt it on both counts. It’s just willy waving. I’d pay for something that’s a little fatter and a lot more repairable.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Does it need to be this thin? Does anyone care? I doubt it on both counts. It’s just willy waving.

      Exactly. I've said much the same myself.

      Years ago, when laptops were this thick, or this thick or this thick- and correspondingly heavy- there were legitimate ergonomic reasons why one would prefer a laptop that was considerably thinner and lighter. Ones that may still (just about) apply in a few cases.

      But Apple crossed that point long ago with the thinnest versions of- e.g.- the MacBook Air. (And it was never really an issue with the iPad in the first place).

      I mean, yeah, it's a technical achievement that they managed to squeeze that much computer into something that thin, and I'm sure it's great to show off to your friends.

      But so what? Are a few extra millimetres of thinness (proportionately significant when the previous model was already thin, but not that much in absolute terms) likely to make any difference in fitting it into your backpack? I doubt it- by that point its footprint will be the main consideration.

      When it gets to the point of compromising (e.g.) user ports and keyboard design just to achieve that impressive but pointless thinness, it's definitely crossed into style over substance.

      1. veti Silver badge

        At 5.1 mm, it's still too thick to use as a bookmark. Ways to go yet.

    2. MSArm

      > Does it need to be this thin? Does anyone care? I doubt it on both counts. It’s just willy waving.

      Interesting that these days computing tech is measured by thickness of device. As if thickness somehow demonstrates power.

  31. Plest Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Only got one thing to say to all this...

    ...some people need to get a life!

    All this fuss over and advert. Adverts are by design full of crap, they're simply bullshit stories and anyone who puts any stock in anything they see in an advert really does need to get a bloody life!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Only got one thing to say to all this...

      "Adverts are by design full of crap,"

      Yes, but they usually at least try to present products and company in positive light. This one doesn't even try, so it's accidentally honest.

      When a corporation is honest, even accidentally, you ought to believe what they say.

  32. xyz123 Silver badge

    I'm waiting for Apple to buy out Audible and do a TV Ad where they burn books in a nazi reenactment.....and underneath the ash is an ipad playing the audio version of Mein Kampf.

    1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      Audible?

      Audible is now owned by Amazon, and while Apple could (probably) buy Amazon, I'd wager that they wouldn't want to.

      Mind you, that's an interesting concept.

  33. BartyFartsLast Silver badge

    Eventually

    All empires fall.

  34. Bebu
    Windows

    "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

    I had not encountered Maya Angelou, but she pretty much hit that nail on the head.

    Wantonly destroying any substantial artefact or item, such as a musical instrument, that could be constructively and creatively used by another can only be called a sin in my book - a crime against civilized society. Utter philistines.

  35. MacDBB

    This could have been projected on the movie screen everyone was watching in the famous 1984 Superbowl commercial ... and would not have seemed out of place.

  36. TM™

    Here's hoping it comes to light that Cook personally signed off on the campaign himself and they get someone better in instead.

  37. dave 93
    WTF?

    Is El Reg a support site for irritated creatives now?

    I liked the Apple ad. All that functionality forged into a thin handheld device with all day battery life. Cool.

    1. SundogUK Silver badge

      Re: Is El Reg a support site for irritated creatives now?

      All that functionality IS NOT forged into a thin handheld device.

    2. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: Is El Reg a support site for irritated creatives now?

      Everyone can have an opinion on whether the ad was stupid or not. I've seen a few people who act like everyone else wants to burn the people who wrote this for their crimes, but most of the people complaining appear to be saying that the ad was a bad one. The same way that I can think that a book was badly written without wanting to punish the author, I can think this advertisement was a bad idea without needing a "support site".

      To argue why I think it was a bad one, they used the wrong images. People in other comments have explained how they could try to paint the idea that these things were becoming part of an iPad. A big crushing machine is never used to make something new out of old stuff. It is used to turn old stuff into more manageable garbage blocks. So when a viewer sees someone using a crusher, they're going to think of destruction, not amalgamation. If the creators of the advert wanted people to think of amalgamation, they chose the wrong image. If they wanted them to think of destruction, they chose the wrong attitude.

      The other problem is that, even if we assume that they were trying to say that these things were being formed together into an iPad, an iPad does very little of that stuff. I'll accept metronome because I have a metronome app on my phone, and I'll accept drawing board because they have that pencil. The camera and music equipment may be overstating the quality differences, but at least the same function can be performed by both of them to some extent. Try using your iPad as a trumpet or guitar. You can't. Try making a sculpture out of it. You'll get cut from the broken screen and the iPad won't work when you're done reshaping it. If they want to show things being forged into an iPad, it might help if they chose things that an iPad could actually do.

      I think they were using the crusher for a different reason than you think they did. It's not surprising to see destruction used to sell something new. When your new product means that your customers don't have to put up with the annoying thing they previously used, then it's not a problem to show the destruction of the annoying thing. Their problem was that they used this for things that people either aren't annoyed by or don't have, so the picture they painted didn't bring the same emotions.

  38. Big_Boomer

    I am surprised that they didn't start the Ad with "Some say that...." since that seems to be the current fad in marketing circles (I guess the marketing people have been watching too many Top Gear repeats). As for the device itself, nothing new there. Same old functionality in an even thinner device, but then you put it in a case to protect your substantial investment in the device and it's fat once again.

    I think that the Ad was unoriginal, poorly thought out, and obviously not tested adequately, but not worth all the ire and venom shown above.

  39. pre-pc
    Black Helicopters

    NOCO

    If anyone has ever read POPCO by Scarlett Thomas, there's the nice idea that most of us can't avoid playing the corporate game most of the time - money, food, shelter, etc - , but that doesn't mean we can't undermine the corporation from time to time. I think this ad fits her brief very nicely - some of the team who pulled it together must have known exactly what the real message it would send, even if the management hierarchy didn't clock it, or thought the controversy would play out in Apples favour. It would have been easy to re-work the ad, benignly stuffing all the creative items into an ipad, rather than crushing the life out of them...

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Delphian Records fixed it for them

    They played the advert backwards, slowly, to the tune of Bach. Genious.

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