Last week Apple held its 'Let Loose' event where the firm presented several of its new features and products, including an announcement about the main attraction of the event, the new iPad Pro. As you may have seen, this announcement caused a storm controversy for reasons Apple had not anticipated, and now Samsung has taken the opportunity to publish an ad in response, attacking Apple's ad.
The ad that accompanied the unveiling of the iPad Pro showed a bunch of objects used to create and consume media in the past being crushed by a hydraulic press, which was lifted up to reveal the new iPad Pro, implying that you can distill all those objects into the new tablet.
This went viral and was talked about a lot because, despite Apple's best intentions and the merits of the new iPad Pro, it seemed like Apple was destroying all of these things that are so familiar to many and represent many of the ways we currently enjoy . making art, and that Apple had the solution to replace it all.
Apple became aware of the controversy and the company's vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, issued an apologetic statement, speaking to Ad Age after the backlash.
Myhren said: “Creativity is in our DNA at Apple and it is incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives around the world. Our goal is to always celebrate the countless ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. “We were wrong with this video and we are sorry.”
Samsung enters the conversation
In the midst of this whirlwind, Samsung clearly saw an opportunity and launched its own announcement via the Samsung Mobile US #UnCrush.”
We would never crush creativity. #UnCrush pic.twitter.com/qvlUqbRlnEMay 15, 2024
The Samsung ad makes a subtle reference to the Apple ad and shows what appears to be the result of objects being crushed in the press, where a woman reaches out and picks up a guitar found in the rubble. She then sits on the edge of the press, playing the guitar and humming while looking at sheet music displayed on a Galaxy Tab S9 tablet (released in 2023).
The ad features a close-up of the back of the tablet, showing the Samsung logo for a moment. Then, the phrase “Creativity can't be crushed” is shown and cuts to a black screen that says, “Galaxy Tab S9 Series with Galaxy AI.”
An opinion that many agree with, but is it Samsung who defends it?
It's a shrewd move on Samsung's part and it successfully captures the sentiment of some of the criticism leveled at Apple, but many people aren't convinced of its sincerity.
First of all, Samsung isn't known for being many creatives' first choice when it comes to devices, and if the company would like that to change, there's a lot more work to be done than a bold announcement. Perhaps Samsung can use this as an opportunity to distinguish itself as a different type of technology company when it comes to human creativity. However, at the moment, that's not a feeling most people evoke when they think of Samsung, not to mention its current position in the tech industry (mostly) as an alternative manufacturer to Apple.
Additionally, top responses to Samsung Mobile US's post say that the ad itself isn't especially fascinating or evocative, and doesn't feel particularly creatively driven.
Another criticism I've seen from several people is Samsung's own mention of the AI it incorporates into its products. For some, the term “AI” is quickly becoming antithetical to the idea of raw human creativity. I sympathize with this point of view, but I do not share it and I do not believe that AI and human creativity are mutually exclusive. Computing in general can be a medium like any other, and AI is a tool that humans can develop and use to help benefit or destroy creativity. Frankly, it's hard to say right now which of those two forces is winning, but as someone who enjoys creative pursuits, I've found AI to be useful in helping me generate ideas.
So while I don't think Samsung looks like a paragon of creativity after this announcement, I think it's a fun jab at Apple that strikes a chord (pardon the pun). Additionally, I'm all for reminding tech companies that human creativity is one of our best attributes as a species.
However, as we already mentioned, Samsung needs to do more than just run an ad: if it really wants to chase Apple, the company needs to develop a tablet that can compete with the iPad Pro and tempt creative people to spend money on it.
As for Apple, I doubt the company will respond to Samsung here, as I'm sure it wants to move past this misstep and continue to build on the fact that the iPad Pro is a legitimately impressive piece of technology.
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