An ad for Apple's new iPad Pro seems to have made people so upset that they rushed to social media to voice their outrage after CEO Tim Cook posted it online earlier this week, CNN reported.
The controversial ad features a warehouse-like room filled with various creative tools, including a metronome and record player, a cathode ray tube (CRT) TV, paint cans, a globe, a piano, an '80s arcade game, a human head sculptural bust, and a trumpet.
All these things that symbolise an individual’s creativity are placed on a metal slab with another metal slab ominously hanging above them.
As soon as Sonny and Cher’s 1972 single "All I Ever Need Is You," begins in the background, the hanging metal slab starts descending, and ends up crushing all the things in a giant hydraulic press within about 40 seconds.
Afterwards, the hydraulic press rises to reveal a shiny, new iPad Pro, with a voiceover saying: "The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest."
The phone-making giant seems to have capitalized on the popular trend of Hydraulic press videos that show the mesmerising nature of collapse under pressure.
The ad highlights the powerful capabilities of its new iPad Pro, but the ad seems to have failed to resonate with many viewers.
"I'm not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is (sic) this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for," says one commenter on X.
"I can't relate to this video at all. It lacks any respect for creative equipment and mocks the creators," says another.
Many people agreed with this sentiment, saying the ad would have been better in reverse.
Consumers have begun to grow wary of technology amid fears that AI could replace workers in many industries and the detrimental effects of prolonged social media.