This really shows how much sentiments about technology have changed in the last five or so years. If this ad came out in 2018 it would have been received differently, I think. The buzz has worn off. People don't see doing everything on your device as progress. iPads are no longer novel.
Apple has been so used to growing new markets that I don't think they even know how to market when they're on top. All their best ads have been when using their products speaks to being a rebel. Nowadays the least rebellious thing you could be is an Apple user.
Many artists now view the tech industry as a credible threat to their work and livelihood, because of AI. If you want them to buy your products, it’s probably a good idea to show some sensitivity to that concern.
> This really shows how much sentiments about technology have changed in the last five or so years. If this ad came out in 2018 it would have been received differently, I think. The buzz has worn off. People don't see doing everything on your device as progress. iPads are no longer novel.
I think not. 2018 was not so different. People talked about what is now called enshittification. Apple, Google, and Facebook introduced screen time controls because concerns had grown year after year.
I think an ad showing the same objects sucked into a tablet would have been received much better now. I doubt the lurid destruction of art, creative tools, and symbols of culture and history would have been received much better in 2004.
>I think an ad showing the same objects sucked into a tablet would have been received much better now. I doubt the lurid destruction of art, creative tools, and symbols of culture and history would have been received much better in 2004.
Except that the opposite appears to be true. There are numerous examples throughout this HN thread of companies like LG and Nintendo doing similar things (LG back in 2018, Nintendo I'm not sure when) without receiving the same kind of flack as this ad is.
You have to remember that it was only in the past year or two that AI has really scared the shit out of the creative community. That sentiment didn't exist in the past when these kinds of commercials were previously made. There has been a shift, and right now, whether you like it or not, or whether you think artists should be scared or embrace it, to artists it feels like the tech community is pointing a giant middle finger at them.
In 2004, this kinda thing was brand new, and you could spin it as promising to artists. Now that 20 years have passed and people have seen the reality of how things have played out, there is a lot more negativity and apprehension towards it.
How many people saw LG UK's ad? Very few Japanese people probably. Social media as it exists today was new. Reporting on social media trends was rare. And artists were not important to LG.
Nintendo's ad was not similar. The animated characters were clearly not real and shown unharmed. The bus was not a creative tool or a symbol. Destruction was implied through editing. The target audience was children.
I know artists. I know their concerns about AI. I think you over estimate how many musicians would have celebrated an advertisement luridly destroying instruments in 2004.
Apple has been so used to growing new markets that I don't think they even know how to market when they're on top. All their best ads have been when using their products speaks to being a rebel. Nowadays the least rebellious thing you could be is an Apple user.