(CNN) — Apple apologized and admitted it “missed the mark” with its latest iPad Pro ad.
Advertisement released on Tuesday In social networks Apple CEO Tim Cook received negative reactions from internet users who celebrated the destruction of human creativity and art by technology.
In a statement to AdAge, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, apologized.
“Creativity is in Apple's DNA and it's important to us to design products that empower creativity around the world. Our goal is to always celebrate the limitless ways users can express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,” said Myhren. . “We missed the mark in this video, sorry.”
Apple confirmed the report to AdAge, but declined to comment further.
The ad features symbols of human creativity, such as musical instruments, paint cans, a 1980s arcade video game, and a bust of a human head crushed by a giant hydraulic press. Lifting the metal plates of the hydraulic press reveals Apple's new iPad Pro.
“Introducing the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we've ever made, the most advanced display we've ever made with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Imagine everything you can create with it,” Cook wrote in a post. X came with the video.
Online reaction to the announcement was immediate: “Code is an interesting choice to indiscriminately crush beautiful creative tools,” one social media user wrote. “This ad has made me believe I need less technology in my life,” wrote another.
Other users said the ad was in poor taste, amid fears that AI will replace workers even in creative fields. Actor Hugh Grant wrote on social media that Apple's announcement represented “the destruction of the human experience”.
According to AdAge, Apple is now planning to air the ad on television.
Although the ad was not removed from Cook's X account, the mee culpa was rare for Apple.