I find it hard to believe that no one on Apple Inc.’s marketing team saw this coming. Maybe they were too timid to speak up. Perhaps they were overruled. Maybe they didn’t care.

But surely someone in that Cupertino spaceship in California could comprehend the grim imagery of its new iPad ad — titled simply “Crush!”— in which a giant crushing machine slowly squeezes a pile of beloved creative tools. First, a trumpet, buckling. Then paint splattering everywhere. A bust, squashed. An upright piano, crushed, strings and hammers flying out with a horrific crunch. Camera lenses shattering.