Meh. I was very into music growing up, and still play. It doesn't bother me in the least to see a musical instrument that is not my own being destroyed, any more than I have a reaction to seeing a car being destroyed in a movie ("some people really love cars!") or someone blowing up a building ("some people really love architecture!") or an artwork being burned/modified/mutilated ("some people really love art!"), or food being wasted/destroyed ("some people really love cooking!") all of which are more-or-less common in mass media.
(To wit: someone else here pointed out the OK Go music videos where they -- professional musicians! -- destroy all sorts of things, including musical instruments. Those were great, btw.)
While I do not exclude the possibility that some people may have feelings in reaction to seeing a generic musical instrument being destroyed, you can extend this metaphor to any number of areas where it's completely accepted to see similar acts of destruction.
> Some violinists are put off by music videos with violins played in the rain. Apple's ad would be traumatic.
More likely is that a few people are truly bothered, but lots of people engage in performative outrage for attention, which is so common that we have a name for it: pearl-clutching.
I think everyone has their pet irritating thing.
That said, this is exactly what is interesting and "triggering" to many about the ad, IMO. That it emphasises destruction, and therefore is a metaphor for the replacement of material expression with the immaterial, or something along those lines.
Just to add, I play guitar every day. I don't handle my guitar with care: I ding it against walls, toss it onto the couch, fail to clean it as regularly as I should, drive with it in my car using no case to do so. But I love my guitar very much, because it enables me to play beautiful (to me) music. I don't want to be burdened by the "perfection" of my guitar. To each their own, I say.
I kinda feel it's not so far from synthesizers in a way.
Wind instruments will also probably fall in the "handle casually" space, while still sensible to being dinged and needing care ?
Classic instruments have a harsher split between the centuries old instruments that just can't be replaced [0], and the modern versions that are left mostly for amateurs or pros expanding their range and aiming for different sounds. That's where pro instruments end up at five~six figures prices, and are definitely not tossed around.
[0] I remember being told by a player that their instrument was there before their birth and will still be in people's hands way after they die.
[0]: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQX0RCg...
You can dislike something without being outraged. Well, unless of course someone is outraged with you. Then you can't say that you like or dislike things anymore. Seems like a terrible society to live in. It's the one we're experiencing.
To set my bias, I'm surrounded by music people and their instrument is basically an extension of themselves, they spent hours everyday touching it, for their whole life since 4. For some it's also the most expensive thing they own.
Some violinists are put off by music videos with violins played in the rain. Apple's ad would be traumatic.
> The idea that people can't make art or express themselves for fear of other artists' outrage is what's truly outrageous.
Eliciting a reaction is part of art, and people getting outraged is par for the course. You're also totally free to outraged at the outrage, that's the cycle.