Yes. LG used a strikingly similar idea in 2008: creative and entertainment objects were crushed under a hydraulic press before the thin LG-KC910 Renoir phone appeared. Apple’s 2024 “Crush!” commercial used the same broad sequence for the iPad Pro. The resemblance is substantial, but public evidence does not prove that Apple intentionally copied LG.
Watch the two commercials
The original LG commercial and Apple’s “Crush!” spot can be viewed in the side-by-side comparison published by 9to5Google. Apple’s ad is also described in detail by TIME and The Guardian.
When watching, compare the opening object montage, the first appearance of the press, musical instruments, cameras and lenses, paint and art materials, the destruction itself, and the final reveal of a thin device. Those recurring beats—not merely the presence of a machine—are why the comparison became newsworthy.
What LG advertised in 2008
The LG-KC910 Renoir
LG announced the full-touchscreen LG-KC910 Renoir on September 4, 2008. In its contemporary press release, LG presented it as an 8-megapixel multimedia phone measuring 13.95 millimeters thick. The specification list included Wi-Fi, assisted GPS, Dolby Mobile, Schneider-Kreuznach-certified optics, a xenon flash, autofocus, image stabilization and video capabilities.
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The commercial’s logic follows that positioning. Instruments, camera-related parts, paint and other creative objects are compressed into a single reveal: a phone marketed as combining photography, music, video and touchscreen functions. That is a reasonable reading of the imagery and the product launch, not a published LG explanation of what every individual shot was intended to symbolize.
What the sequence communicates
The Renoir was a feature phone, not a tablet or a professional workstation. Its sales story was that one pocketable handset brought multiple forms of multimedia together. The press therefore works as a visual metaphor for consolidation: separate tools and entertainment devices give way to one compact product.
What Apple’s “Crush!” commercial showed
The 2024 iPad Pro spot
Apple’s commercial opens on a studio-like collection of creative objects. A large hydraulic press descends and destroys musical instruments, cameras, lenses, paint, sculptures, books, a record player, an arcade game and other items. When the press rises, an iPad Pro remains, followed by a message about the device’s power and thinness. Marketing Dive and TIME document the sequence and its launch context.
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Apple was presenting the iPad Pro as a consolidated creative instrument: a single thin computer capable of replacing or containing many activities. The commercial does not explicitly say that users should throw away books, instruments or cameras, so that stronger interpretation belongs to critics rather than to an official Apple statement.
How closely do the ads match?
| Element | LG Renoir commercial, 2008 | Apple “Crush!”, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Central mechanism | Hydraulic press | Hydraulic press |
| Objects | Creative, musical and camera-related items | Musical instruments, cameras, paint, sculptures, books, records, games and other creative objects |
| Visual action | Objects are crushed before the product reveal | Objects are crushed before the product reveal |
| Product | LG-KC910 Renoir feature phone | iPad Pro professional tablet |
| Promotional idea | One multimedia phone combines several functions | One thin tablet combines creative capabilities and computing power |
| Final payoff | A thin handset | A thin iPad Pro |
Both commercials use a distinctive “many creative tools become one thin device” structure. Reporting also notes similar imagery involving camera lenses or glass breaking. That makes the parallel more compelling than a generic claim that both ads happened to show something being destroyed.
They are not frame-for-frame identical. The products, object selection, pacing, branding and launch messages differ, and no reliable shot-by-shot evidence establishes that every image was reproduced.
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Did Apple copy LG?
The evidence supports a careful answer:
- LG used the crushing-objects-to-reveal-a-device concept roughly 16 years before Apple.
- Apple’s commercial shares the hydraulic press, categories of creative objects, destruction-before-reveal structure and thin-device payoff.
- Public reporting has not established that Apple’s creators saw LG’s commercial, deliberately reproduced it, or worked with the same agency, director or production company. 9to5Google found no proof of intentional copying.
Accordingly, “Apple stole LG’s ad” goes beyond the evidence. The defensible description is that LG used the concept first and Apple’s version closely echoes it. Similarity can support discussion of influence or creative borrowing, but visuals alone cannot establish intent or plagiarism.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why Apple’s version caused a much bigger backlash
The metaphor changed in 2024
Critics did not object only to the unpleasant sight of objects being crushed. Many read the commercial as technology pulverizing the physical tools through which people make art, music, games and literature. The reaction was intensified by anxiety about generative AI, automation and the displacement of creative labor. The Washington Post and AP News describe that broader response.
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Some commentators called it the inverse of Apple’s famous “1984” advertisement. In that reading, the older commercial showed a person breaking free from a machine, while “Crush!” appeared to show a machine destroying human expression. That is a critical interpretation, not an official Apple comparison, but it explains why the symbolism carried unusual weight.
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Brand and distribution consequences
Apple marketing executive Tor Myhren apologized, saying the company had “missed the mark.” Contemporaneous coverage reported that Apple abandoned plans to run the commercial on television, although the online spot remained available in coverage of the controversy. The Guardian and Marketing Dive reported the apology and television-placement change.
Why LG’s commercial received less attention
There is no definitive historical ranking of causes, but several differences provide context:
- The Renoir was a niche feature phone, while the iPad is a flagship platform strongly associated with professional creators.
- LG’s ad had less global cultural reach and circulated before social media could amplify criticism at today’s speed.
- Current debates about generative AI gave the 2024 imagery a ready-made anxiety about technology replacing creative work.
- Apple’s launch framing made the idea of many creative tools becoming one thin device especially prominent.
It is more accurate to say that the LG version appears to have generated less documented backlash and less lasting attention—not that nobody objected to it.
The takeaway
LG did not make Apple’s commercial, and Apple has not admitted copying it. But LG’s 2008 Renoir advertisement plainly reached the same visual destination first: a hydraulic press destroys creative objects, then a thin device appears as their consolidated successor. Apple’s “Crush!” became the larger story because that metaphor landed in an era of AI-related fear, under a brand whose identity is closely tied to creative work.
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