Samsung has a brilliant response to Apple’s hated ‘Crush’ ad

It’s not often that Samsung one-ups Apple in its marketing campaigns, but the South Korean company has done just that with its latest ad, “Uncrush.”

Earlier this month, Apple unveiled the long-awaited new iPad Pros, which feature OLED displays and the M4 chipset. They are also the thinnest devices that Apple has ever made. To show off that thinness, Apple released a new ad called “Crush.” The ad showed an industrial compressor smashing things like a guitar, piano, paint, sculptures, and more. When the compressor retracts at the end of the ad, only an iPad Pro is left in place of the destroyed creative tools.

Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created, the most advanced display we’ve ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create. pic.twitter.com/6PeGXNoKgG

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 7, 2024

Apple’s “Crush” ad was a rare marketing miss for the company. The spot angered a lot of creative professionals who said it symbolized technology’s destruction of human creativity. Apple later issued an apology for the ad, saying it “missed the mark” and that it wouldn’t run it on TV.

So, that was the end of the ad drama, right? Not so, thanks to Apple’s arch-competitor, Samsung.

Samsung’s response

Samsung has now released an ad called “Uncrushed” in response to Apple’s “Crush,” and whether or not you agree with the stance among some creatives that Apple’s ad was—intentionally or not—promoting technology’s destruction of human creativity, you have to admit that Samsung’s response is brilliant.

In the “Uncrush “ad, we are thrust back into what is supposed to be the same room with the same industrial compressor from Apple’s ad. Broken and crushed physical creative tools lie everywhere. (Even the paint from the crushed paint cans in Apple’s ad still stains the compressor in Samsung’s ad.) We see a pair of feet walking through the destruction, then a woman picks up a guitar that was only partially destroyed by Apple’s compressor. She begins playing it as she reads sheet music from a Samsung tablet.

The ad ends with the tag “Creativity cannot be crushed.”

We would never crush creativity. #UnCrush pic.twitter.com/qvlUqbRlnE

— Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) May 15, 2024

While most people would probably agree Apple’s iPad Pro blows away any tablet made by Samsung, there’s no denying that Samsung has candidly beat Apple in the marketing department this time around.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91126461/samsung-has-a-brilliant-response-to-apples-hated-crush-ad?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Created 1y | May 16, 2024, 1:40:05 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

‘The /r/overemployed king’: A serial moonlighter was exposed for holding 19 jobs at Silicon Valley startups

A software engineer became X’s main character last week after being outed as a serial moonlighter at multiple Silicon Valley startups.

“PSA: there’s a guy named Soham Parekh (in India) w

Jul 8, 2025, 10:20:04 PM | Fast company - tech
Texas flood recovery efforts face an unexpected obstacle: drones

The flash floods that have devastated Texas are already a difficult crisis to manage. More than 100 people are confirmed dead

Jul 8, 2025, 5:40:02 PM | Fast company - tech
The internet is trying—and failing—to spend Elon Musk’s $342 billion

How would you spend $342 billion?

A number of games called “Spend Elon Musk’s Money” have been popping up online, inviting users to imagine how they’d blow through the

Jul 8, 2025, 3:20:07 PM | Fast company - tech
What happened at Wimbledon? ‘Human error’ blamed for ball-tracking tech mishap

The All England Club, somewhat ironically, is blaming “human error” for a glaring mistake by the electronic

Jul 8, 2025, 3:20:04 PM | Fast company - tech
Elon Musk has ‘fixed’ Grok—to be more like him than ever

As Elon Musk announced plans over the Fourth of July weekend to establish a third political party,

Jul 8, 2025, 12:50:09 PM | Fast company - tech