Last week, Apple released an ad for the iPad that involved a large hydraulic press literally crushing a whole bunch of physical objects that people tend to really like, such as an arcade cabinet, a piano, a cute, sentient CGI bird (?!) and a guitar.

The idea was that the iPad could achieve all the things those physical objects can do in a teeny amount of space. To many, it read much more like Apple was boasting about how its technology is literally crushing physical media and making tangible objects obsolete.

This ad is (unintentional) perfect metaphor for today's creative dark age: compress organic instruments, joyful/imperfect machines, tangible art, our entire physical reality into a soulless, postmodern, read-only device a multi-trillion $ corporation controls what you do with https://t.co/mxtfOKloYV

— Adam Singer (@AdamSinger) May 8, 2024

A PR disaster ensued, and Apple was forced into a mea culpa, saying, "Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."

It seems vultures of Apple's competitors have been circling the corpse of the "Crush" ad, and the first to take a bite is Samsung, who yesterday released a clear shot at Apple's mishap with a commercial boasting, "We would never crush creativity."

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

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

The ad shows a woman walking in a clear recreation of the wreckage caused by Apple's "Crush" ad. She picks up the ruined guitar, pulls up some tabs on her Galaxy tablet, and begins to play.

The Samsung spot received cheers from people who hate Apple's "Crush" commercial and enjoy some good, old-fashioned ad wars.

Still, not everyone was thrilled with Samsung's salvo. Some felt that Samsung advertising its "Galaxy AI" technology in the very frame after the company promised it would "never crush creativity" was hypocritical, considering much of the art community's established consternation about the use of artificial intelligence in artistic mediums.

While social media is divided on Samsung's attempted dunk on Apple, it's probably not good for Apple that their biggest competitors are seeing an opportunity to score free points at their expense.