Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Homage or insult

This photo was on the apple.com homepage. Should I be glad Apple is paying homage to a woman who is nothing less than an American hero or offended that they turned her passing into an ad campaign. How commercialized are we if we can accept using the loss of a powerful icon for good as nothing more than a cheap method of whoring your product. Rosa Parks through her simple act of standing for her own dignity set in motion a movement that changed America for the better. To have said "in memory" would be a good thing. I support all who would honor her. To slap your logo and slogan on the photo so you can sell more iPods and G5's is another. To compare her stand for civil rights to your right to choose a different operating system is repugnant to me. And for the record, I am typing this on a Mac so this is not coming out of old geek "Intel is better" bias. I love Apple's products but they need to fire their marketing guru.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, taking over the world is my job!!! Love ya honey

JC said...

That's pretty offensive alright.

I say we all boycott apple computer!
(I've already started)
Just overpriced toys anyway...

(alright they're good for some things) but I get a magazine at work, its a photoshop magazine, it used to be called mac something or other, and they changed the name to photoshop something or other (very detail oriented, you see) anyway the letters section in the front of the mag was filled for 2 months with people lamenting the name-change, saying how awful it was that "impure" photoshop users (those who use cheap, readily available, easily servicable equpment, i.e. pcs) would be reading their previously pure mac magazine, and how stupid it is for anybody to design on pc.

It's that kind of person who thinks it's ok to use Rosa Parks as a marketing tool.

(actually, that's my job title!)

JC
Marketing Tool

Anonymous said...

Ok, so your points on Apple are well noted. I say neither homage nor insult but self-embiggenment. (put that in your word pipe and smoke it, JC)
The ad-thinker-upper... He is probably some young go-getter-wanna-be-somebody who has never even heard of Rosa Parks. Being ignorant to her and her history, he cannot give her props or willingly insult.

Perhaps there was a good reason (it has obviously escaped us) but the bigwigs took it and did their own thing. Ever seen Bamboozeled? Sometime things are a good idea in the boardroom but they take on lives of their own in the public eye.

You know whoever came up with this idea got a big fat bonus.

Perhaps the gentleman (or woman) who came up with the campaign just wants to retire to Amsterdam. Such a large ad campaign might possibly grant him the bonus he needs to wisk himself over to his destination. To a degree, integrity goes out the window when we are talking about livelihood (at least I am willing to admit it. I mean, I wouldn't become a cab driver/hooker just to make a buck, but I would gladly profit off of Jesus). Granted, Apple is in no danger of starving or going without shoes, but when you get down to it, they are in business to make money, not computers.

I know that I have profited off of images that others may find offensive. I know that I have written some things that no matter how much I say it is fiction, everyone knows I am talking about them. Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Anyhoo. Please don't think I am supporting the ad or Apple. I detest the company. I am just trying to poke you with my stick, so to speak. The ad only seems offensive if you look at it that way. Or, maybe I am not that easily offended.