'The destruction of the human experience': Apple apologies after iPad advert backlash

Advert featuring huge hydraulic press crushing cultural objects struck wrong note with many

In this image taken from a video advertisement, a hydraulic press crushes an array of creative instruments .The newly-released ad promoting Apple's new iPad Pro has struck quite a nerve online. Picture: Apple via AP

Apple has apologised after an online backlash to an advert for its new iPad that features an industrial-sized hydraulic press crushing a collection of creative objects including musical instruments and books.

The ad, launched by Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, on Tuesday, shows the machine squashing various items – ranging from a piano and a metronome to tins of paint and an arcade game – before a single iPad Pro then appears in their place. A voiceover then states: “The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest.”