Do you like this ad? #Marketing & Growth has long been a strength of Apple, but this ad seems to be a puzzling misstep. Did CEO Tim Cook review the spot before it was released? If so, you have to ask: What was he thinking?— Imagine, for a second, OpenAI making an ad showing a hydraulic press crushing a group of writers flat as a pancake. It wouldn’t be that different from the tone-deaf commercial Apple released to promote its new iPad Pro. It shows a hydraulic press crushing a piano, a trumpet, a guitar, a metronome, a record player, paint cans and a bunch of other electronic #Gadgets . What’s left is the iPad. The commercial is horrifying to watch—it’s akin to Apple showing the burning of books. And it prompted an outpouring of outrage on social media. Veteran tech investor Paul Graham, for instance, posted on X that the late Steve Jobs “wouldn’t have shipped that ad. It would have pained him too much to watch.” #DANK MEMES