the tindog coffeehouse

Writer Donald Miller (author of one my favorite books, Blue Like Jazz), has a great analysis on his blog about how Apple’s marketing is made to exploit the insecurities of its customers.

Apple products are defended with near-religious zest. But in our zest are we defending a company or our own identities? Perhaps what we’ve been offered is a brand to associate ourselves with, a brand that triggers our survival instincts, revealing we don’t believe we have enough to survive without this association? Perhaps the use of Apple products reveals insecurity more than it reveals confidence. …

In a culture where we are made to feel socially inferior if we don’t use certain brands or products, what does a true counter-culture look like?

If you think about it, the most confident of counter-culture heros aren’t talking on i-phones, wearing designer jeans or jumping in the air in their facebook photos (why are all the hipsters suddenly jumping in their facebook photos? Why didn’t anybody call me to say we were doing that?) but instead are the people most of us might not notice. The reason we don’t notice these people is because they offer us no beneficial association. They buy products because the products work, they buy jeans because they cover their asses, and coats because a certain coat will keep them warm. A true counter culture is not manipulated by the whims of fashion and therefore is not made up of fashionable people.

Miller, an Apple user himself, hits the nail on the head. In the never-ending Mac-vs.-PC debate, the question is never about the quality of the products. In fact, in all of the “I’m a Mac” and “I’m a PC” commercials, almost nothing is said about the actual operating systems. It’s all about image. Apple products are portrayed as the cool choice for cool people, while Windows is for old, dumpy, pencil-pushers. In essence Apple is saying, what brand of technology you use determines how socially relevant you are.

What a horrible message.

Listen, this isn’t about bashing Apple products. I think Apple makes great products. But the choice of what kind of computer we use or what kind of phone we carry shouldn’t be determined by what everyone else around us is using. Simply using a Macbook or an iPhone does not make you cool. It does not make you hip. It does not make you unique.

If a Macbook or an iPhone or an iPod meets your needs better than the alternatives, fine. I’m not condemning anyone for purchasing an Apple product. But we need to stop buying into the hype that who we are as people is measured by what kinds of stuff we surround ourselves with, whether it’s an iPhone or a 50-inch plasma TV or a $500,000 house we can’t afford.

Our true worth has nothing to do with our material possessions. That’s not a message that retailers want you to hear, but it’s absolutely the message I hope to be teaching my daughters. My hope and prayer for them is that as they get older, they’ll be confident enough to forge their own paths based on what they know to be right rather than follow along with what they are told is popular.

That’s not an easy thing to do in this day and age, and unfortunately it might cost them a lot of friends along the way. But that’s OK. Because while everyone is else is clinging to a gadget or a brand or whatever else comes along, they’ll be holding on to something much greater.

Previously:
New Microsoft ‘I’m a PC’ ads: too little too late