The first Apple product I ever coveted was Elle Woods’ orange iBook in “Legally Blonde.” I was 11. In the movie, Elle buys the computer while wearing a sparkly Playboy bunny costume, her fluffy white tail bobbing with determination as the spunky montage music begins. She will take control of her life. She will kick some law school butt. She will stick out in a lecture hall full of black laptops. I was mesmerized. And when I got my own computer a few years later, I chose an iBook.
Steve Jobs’ death was met with widespread expressions of sadness and admiration. Some of those expressions came from those who are currently protesting the influence of corporations. Of course someone’s death should always be treated with due somberness and respect, but I can think of no other tremendously successful CEO who has an equal stronghold within consumers’ hearts.
In an interview for The Street, a financial blog, Wall Street protesters voiced admiration for Jobs’ achievements, one even saying the technology he created was what allowed the protestors to mobilize. There was one who was critical of Apple, calling its lawsuit against Android manufacturer HTC “anti-competitive.”
Jobs’ success is somehow exempt from the 99 percent’s classification of “corporate greed,” which is useful for all 100 percent of us to consider.
Under Jobs, Apple made consumers feel like individuals when buying its mass marketed products. Through compelling design and marketing, we came to view PCs as the stuff of work and Macs as the stuff of life. The “I’m a Mac” ad campaigns that personified the product as Justin Long in a hoodie told us that the technology we used could be extensions of ourselves. It became worthwhile for that technology to be very, very cool. Virgin Mobile is currently using a similar idea in its TV advertising.
Saatchi & Saatchi, an advertising firm, has come up with a name for brands to which consumers feel a strong emotional connection. They call them Lovemarks and say they “transcend brands” by gaining consumer’s love along with their respect. Since branding is their thing, I’m a little surprised they chose to give the concept a name that sounds like something on your neck the day after a midnight tryst that needs to be covered by a pashmina, but the idea perfectly describes the consumer relationship to Apple.
Other brands are not feeling the love. In D.C., protesters made a giant replica of The Constitution that read “We the Corporations.” The signatures were replaced with logos, including Amazon’s and Microsoft’s. Apple’s logo was absent, though corporate personhood is what allows it to protect its patents and so effectively make us want to buy its very sleek products.
We’re often willing to get behind the accomplishments of the people we love, even if our feelings for them are not entirely rational. We want them to succeed and we celebrate their accomplishments. Loving people makes it hard to recognize when they are taking advantage of us. It even makes it hard to recognize when they really are doing something that’s illegal or unethical. When we don’t love someone, we’re less likely to celebrate his or her success. We might even resent it. But it makes no sense to write off every successful person we do not happen to love as inherently evil. You probably see where I’m going with this, but this might be another case in which we should apply the same standard to corporations.
Note: This column has been edited to read “The Constitution” instead of “The Declaration of Independence.
Ali Elkin is a Medill senior.
She can be reached at [email protected]
