Apple is facing a backlash online over an advert in which objects including musical instruments and books are crushed into oblivion by a hydraulic press.

The video is meant to demonstrate how their creativity has been compressed into the latest iPad.

But celebrities including Hugh Grant and Justine Bateman have reacted with horror to the destruction on view.

Apple boss Tim Cook has been called tone deaf for his post on X, formerly Twitter, about the device, where he asked people to "imagine all the things it’ll be used to create".

The BBC has approached Apple for comment.

The advert attempts to show what Apple's latest tablet is capable of, such as watching television programmes, listening to music and playing video games, while making the point that the new device is particularly thin.

It does this by using a video theme that has been around for almost a decade of musical instruments being crushed.

However, in this instance, it seem the tech giant has also succeeded in mangling its own reputation, with complainants saying the ad actually shows how tech is stifling creativity rather than encouraging it

Actor Hugh Grant labelled it "the destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley".

The criticism is particularly pointed because of the concerns in many of the creative industries about artificial intelligence (AI) taking people's jobs.

Actor and film-maker Justine Bateman, a vocal critic of the use of AI in the film industry, said Apple's ad was "crushing the arts."

Multi-platinum selling songwriter Crispin Hunt called the act of destroying musical instruments evocative of burning books.