Freddie advises that buying a Mac doesn’t really prove you’re cool. (Steve Jobs must really hate this one.)
[A]ll of these greater philosophical underpinnings that people attach to PC vs. Mac are just self-aggrandizing nonsense. Buying the computer from company A doesn’t, as a matter of fact, say anything about you, just like buying a computer from company B doesn’t say anything about your counterparts. As I have said many, many times, there are good things about Apples and good things about PCs. If it makes sense to you to buy an Apple, go with god. And many Apple owners do just that, buy a product, use it and enjoy it. I’ve considered getting an Apple laptop in the past and may in the future. But it amazes me, absolutely amazes me, the number of Apple owners who lack the clarity or self-awareness to realize that purchasing a commodity from a enormous, soulless corporation that is also owned by several million other people doesn’t make you a unique and beautiful snowflake. Apple has a better PR campaign, better advertising and a more gullible, credulous customer base. That’s it. It’s got nothing to do with individuality or noncomformity. I know many people are probably saying that this is a completely banal thing to say but I am consistently astounded by otherwise smart people who will tell you different.
Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.
Scott D
Freddie misses the point of branding. The reason marketers create a brand identity is so that people who relate (or aspire) to that identity gain value over and above the actual performance of the product. Mac users gain utility not only from the machine itself but from the satisfaction of owning something that conforms to/enhances their self-image. These values may seem trivial to many of us, but they are real and, to some, substantial. Why do you think liberals pay more for a Prius than a Honda Hybrid?
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