Apple’s latest advert is a tone deaf response to its own god complex

UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, Tor Myhren, Apple’s Vice President of Marketing, has released the following statement.

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren said. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”

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Great civilisations throughout history have been born, explored the plains and oceans of Earth, and crumbled for a new land to take its place. Venice was forged in the water, the UK from coal. We’ve touched the seabed and left a footprint on the moon. We’ve produced great works of art, music, theatre, and poetry. The hands we share have hunted, gathered and created, and we will continue to do so.

So why, then, does Apple believe it’s going to destroy all that with its ‘thinnest iPad’ ever?

That was the impression I got after seeing the latest Apple advert. It shows humanities greatest works – from Greek busts to a guitar that could be in the hands of the next Bob Dylan – crushed by a hydropress. But our shared culture is not reduced to rubble, as such. Instead, we get something far worse. The latest iPad.

Tone deaf

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OK, first off, I understand Apple’s angle here. The latest iPad, to the company that made it, is everything an artist, gamer, musician, work horse, or Netflix lover would need. But there’s a level of pomposity to it that’s hard to ignore. It is to say that life must exist within the digital form. It posits Apple as best, anything else inferior. It believes an iPad can produce the next great work of art, which it could possibly do. But its at the expense of, oh, I don’t know, around 40,000 years of human evolution and achievement. It, quite literally, crushes real world cultural pursuits, in favour of its $3600/£3000+ new machine (that will likely become somewhat redundant in around 18 months or so).

Apple, a 2.8ish trillion dollar corporation, has long cultivated for itself an independent image. It may charge you $50 for a phone cable, but hey, it has Zane Lowe presenting on its radio stations. Apple projects a ‘cool dad’ vibe from an office in Silicon Valley, and this advert is the latest example of its own ego.