Amy Hoy wrote about the choice of symbolism in Apple’s ad, where they placed a number of obvious audience and creator stand-ins in the scene, portrayed them as fearful, and then graphically destroyed them.
“Let’s dissect Apple’s terrible iPad ad and see what it says about understanding your customers”
At every turn, Apple and their ad agency used the language of cinema to create despair.
This ad was a very bad idea. So bad that its exact opposite (creative tools erupt from an iPad) would have been a much better ad for Apple to make.
Whenever a company has reached a point where a very bad idea can wind its way all the way from conception to a grand launch without protest, there’s a decent chance the organisation’s monoculture has let poor judgement spread like mold through every nook and cranny.
Moreover, I have questions about the judgement and analytical capability of any “analyst” or pundit who didn’t spot the film studies 101-level messaging of the ad.
It makes it obvious they weren’t actually paying attention.