Apple apologizes for iPad Pro ad showing hydraulic press destroying guitars and pianos

Apple CEO Tim Cook published the spot on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. Apple also posted it on YouTube. It showed a variety of creative tools, including a guitar, piano and metronome being squeezed by a hydraulic crusher – like TikTok’s recent viral videos – until all the objects were compressed into the company’s new tablet .

Apple also decided not to air the ad on television, Ad Age reported.

The spot drew derision, including widespread media coverage, as viewers said it made Apple seem out of touch, and many said the destruction of the creation tools offended them.

Some Apple critics claimed that the negative reaction to the ad, instead of freely spreading Apple’s marketing message, was a sign that the company lacked goodwill with customers. Apple is a major advertiser and has always been closely tied to TBWA\Media Arts Lab, its longtime advertising agency, although it also does advertising development in-house.

This isn’t the first Apple iPad ad in recent years to annoy some customers. In 2018, some people said they were annoyed by an iPad Pro spot in which a child asked, “What is a computer?”