Welcome to Day 17 of the Best of YAP 2024!

Our team’s taking a little holiday break, but don’t worry—we aren’t going anywhere.

Because over this holiday period, you’ll be treated to one of our fave articles in your inbox each day.

So whether you’re sitting by the fire with a warm cup of cocoa (lookin’ at you, Northern hemi folks), or hitting the beach (for those of us having a summer Christmas), you can catch up on some reading and remind yourself of what a wild year 2024 was.

Catch ya in 2025!

- Charlotte, Editor ♡

Apple Offends Creatives Everywhere

The biggest marketing mistake you can make? Pissing off your target audience.

It’s no secret that Apple products and creative professionals go hand in hand.

But last week, the company released an ad for its new iPad Pro that seems to have rubbed creatives up the wrong way. Hugh Grant even called it a “destruction of the human experience.” Wow.

So what's got creatives so upset?

In an attempt to showcase the M4-powered iPad Pro, described as its thinnest product to date, Apple released “Crush!” This commercial showed a myriad of creative tools like a piano, paint cans, a record player, an arcade game, and cameras being crushed under a giant hydraulic press. At the end, only the iPad Pro remains.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this ad is stunning. Taking the popularity of hydraulic press videos on TikTok and Apple-fying it is genius. Seeing tubs of paint exploding and sending colours streaming down the other objects as they’re crushed is chefs kiss.

So what went wrong?

The message it conveys is where "Crush" falls flat on its face. This ad implies that the whole history of human creativity can be recreated with the unstoppable force of Apple technology.

On the surface, this ad is on brand for Apple. After all, the “you can do it all with a single Apple product” message has always been their bit. And it’s worked well in the past.

However, this is not the past. This is the present.

And, for creatives, the present is tumultuous.

[Keep reading]

-Sophie, Writer