October 12, 2007 iConsumer

This is something that has bothered me for awhile, so seeing as I don’t have anything better to write about, I figured I’d consult OJ and take a stab at it. Has anyone really taken notice of the iPod advertisements? I don’t know if it’s the cynic in me, but I feel like Apple is blatantly playing the community. When you see their image ads or even some commercials, it’s usually a silhouette of a person rockin out to a little Pat Benatar or Boy George. However, when you think about it, the only defining feature or quality about these people is that they own an iPod. Maybe they like to help AIDS victims, maybe they just donated $10,000 to cancer studies, maybe they just helped pass a law to ban reality TV shows, who knows. What’s REALLY important about them is that they own an iPod! In a country that has shifted so heavily towards individualism and self-expression, and even slightly narcissism, it astounds me that a product and an ad that completely counters that idea can perform so well. I think it’s hard to push the idea that owning an iPod helps define you or makes you stick out from a crowd when 110 million other people across the world own one. This certainly isn’t a knock on anyone that owns one; I think most of the people I know own an iPod (I’m still staying true to my 1GB SanDisk). I do question, and hope to draw attention to, the fact that Apple is basically calling you a faceless consumer. Does that bother anyone else just a little bit? I’m not going to stand up on my soapbox here and act self-righteous, but it is something that I do find interesting, while at the same time slightly bothersome. Now I don’t expect them to give every person a little heart-felt hug and home baked cookies for being loyal to their products, as business is business, but I expected a little more respect than basically stating, “We don’t care what you do or who you are, just buy our shit so we can get to looking at our bottom line.”


Song of the Week: “Fake Empire” by The National.

Quote of the Week: “I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.” – Rodney Dangerfield

Random Fact of the Week: Despite a population of over a billion, China has only about 200 family names

Picture of the Week: Another clever ad.

Until next week, you don’t have to put on the red light,


Fred