When you come for the King, you better not miss it.
At least, that’s what I thought after watching Xiaomi’s new commercial for its upcoming Mi 14 Civi smartphone.
The short ad, tagged #CinematicVision (or Civi for short), is an obvious riff on Apple’s “Crush” ad. The clip, in which a hydraulic press destroys a bunch of instruments and other creative tools to build an iPad Pro, hit the wrong note creatively, prompting Apple to pull the ad and apologize for it.
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But Xiaomi cannot let it go. The company’s commercial begins in a very similar way, but the hydraulic press soon stops (seemingly broken), effectively destroying the tool underneath.
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While the intent is likely to indicate how the company differs from Apple in its approach to destroying beautiful objects and creative tools, it’s unclear how copying Apple’s ads accomplishes this, even in such a tongue-in-cheek way. In addition, Xiaomi’s hydraulic press broke before it could break. What does this mean? They want to crush these things but can’t?
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We’re all for the banter between the tech giants. Samsung has been doing this for years, including teasing a Crush ad a few days ago, and Apple has been doing it for years with its line of Mac vs. PC ads. But if you want to do it, maybe put in a little more effort.
