The World of Mac Vs PC
I agree. Apple is the leader in terms of product innovation and creativity. Hands down. The I-Pod, I-Phone, Mac books and a string of other technological advancements have truly put the world into the palms of every user. These gadgets with their sleek, ultra modern designs, carefully crafted and completely user-friendly, after years of product and consumer research. No doubt Apple should be proud of their efforts and rewarded for the same. Heck, I own two I-Pods and I think they're one of the greatest innovations of this century.
So I have nothing personal against the products themselves.
Just with the way Apple tries to sell them. That's what really gets my blood boiling; their effort to make every Apple product as a must-have. A sort of - 'If you don't own an I-Phone or say a mac book, well then you just aren't cool enough or are a loser' attitude.
The Mac Vs PC commercials which are ubiquitous on television epitomize this sort of superficial (for a lack of a better word) premise.
Yes, everybody would love to own a I-Pod (and most probably do) and everybody would love to own those fancy looking laptops (Mac Air they are called I believe) but the obnoxious pricing set by Apple would preclude most average (and sensible might I add) folks from purchasing them. Yet it pains me to see folks who live check to check, month-to-month, go out of their way and buy these gadgets. Its the oldest trap in the world. To buy something expensive to fulfill your own sense of importance. This of course does not apply to people who have the money to do as they wish. This also does not apply if you buy any product for exactly what it is. For instance, I bought an I-Pod since it allowed me to personalize and carry my music wherever I am, not to show people I own an I-Pod, I might buy a painting (expensive or not) which brings some semblance of peace or pleasure to me personally, but not as a piece to brag and show off to my peers. You get my point. The whole premise of trying to heighten your self importance by 'purchasing' or 'buying' something appears foolish to me. I could own the Mona Lisa, but how am I contributing to the art world by merely owning the Mona Lisa? No, I believe only its creator and the painting itself is of any value. I play the role of no more than a placeholder..
If I take the argument one level further - It appears Coolness and Brand name usually go hand in hand. But does it really?
I mean after all if I go out a shell out $80 grand and buy myself a brand new Maserati, well then of course, I'll be the coolest cat on the block and the center of all the attention. Because that's how the Maserati brand is built up.
Its all just the perception of being cool. The real winner is the producer of Maserati who pockets your $80K, on a no doubt, highly priced, but exclusive motor vehicle. Don't get me wrong though -its a one fine motor vehicle.
But I could never wrap myself around that concept. If you were truly cool and confident in your individuality, why would you have to pay such a high price (or any price for that matter) to be accepted by others? To be recognized for your 'coolness'.
That's what bugs me about Apple, or any other seller who trick individuals into believing that by buying what they are selling, you automatically become a better person. A more cooler person. And we unfortunately live in a society where such exhibition of money is a quickshot way to get noticed.
"Oh my god, look he's driving a Cadillac Escalade" Or any other fancy vehicle which is the flavor of the moment.
Look I don't mind luxury. And I certainly hope I don't come across as some sort of communist ranting pig. If you honestly feel that a Cadillac Escalade is THE best car in the block and you find true pleasure in manning that particular vehicle, then good on you mate. I have no issues. Again I don't want to come off as trying to dictate how people should live and what they should buy and so on. Just my personal observations and comments. But I'm not going to buy the fact that a more expensive car is simply a better car. No sir, I just can't accept that. I guess its my middle-class, brahmanical outlook on life.
This idea has been tormenting me for years now, when I was probably in 1st year of undergrad, where probably for the first time, I was introduced into the world of upper-class, luxury life-style. I heard about how one of my friend's uncle had paid a one time fee of Rs.10 Lakh to join a prestigious club (the Madras Cricket Club), in addition to a hefty monthly membership fee. Quite a substantial amount (unless of course converted to dollars). My friend then went on about describing the MCC as the playground of the rich and the famous of the Chennai elite. I felt how exciting it would be to be part of this elite crowd. But then after some time (a few months later) I realized that there really is no point in 'paying' yourself into eliteness. You can't buy cool. You can't buy self-confidence. Yes you could well throw money around (if you have it) and buy yourself your 15-minutes of the spotlight. But it does not last.
It only reminds me of those relatively unknown faces who clamor for the gossip columns, those Page-3 types, as we call em back home, who inexplicably are seen in all the right places, grand opening of any restaurant, museum, new hip night-clubs, any over glorified tea shop etc. They live for the sole purpose of attention. They breathe and thrive on publicity and recognition. They sicken me with their presence. They have nothing useful to contribute to others or to society except promoting themselves.
So the reason I went into this long diatribe is because I saw that Apple has today released another batch of Buy Mac Ads. Some of the Ads were funny to begin with, a sort of friendly banter, between Mac and PC. But the ads now are mostly unfunny in its caricatures and have reached beyond their point of welcome.
Here's the link - http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
I know they are only ads, and meant for fun. But I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and had to rant about some of the things wrong in this world
Nav
P.S. I've never owned a Mac, all though I was pretty close to buying one in 2006. I've been happy with my Dell PC. And I constantly look up amazing configurations available now in laptops, in terms of processing speed, RAM and storage space, which were not available upto a few years ago - all under $1000. So why is the base price of any MAC laptop with an ordinary configuration above $1000? I agree Windows Vista has its share of many bugs and crashes. But if the reports on the new Windows 7 is anything to go by, MAC better watch out.
So I have nothing personal against the products themselves.
Just with the way Apple tries to sell them. That's what really gets my blood boiling; their effort to make every Apple product as a must-have. A sort of - 'If you don't own an I-Phone or say a mac book, well then you just aren't cool enough or are a loser' attitude.
The Mac Vs PC commercials which are ubiquitous on television epitomize this sort of superficial (for a lack of a better word) premise.
Yes, everybody would love to own a I-Pod (and most probably do) and everybody would love to own those fancy looking laptops (Mac Air they are called I believe) but the obnoxious pricing set by Apple would preclude most average (and sensible might I add) folks from purchasing them. Yet it pains me to see folks who live check to check, month-to-month, go out of their way and buy these gadgets. Its the oldest trap in the world. To buy something expensive to fulfill your own sense of importance. This of course does not apply to people who have the money to do as they wish. This also does not apply if you buy any product for exactly what it is. For instance, I bought an I-Pod since it allowed me to personalize and carry my music wherever I am, not to show people I own an I-Pod, I might buy a painting (expensive or not) which brings some semblance of peace or pleasure to me personally, but not as a piece to brag and show off to my peers. You get my point. The whole premise of trying to heighten your self importance by 'purchasing' or 'buying' something appears foolish to me. I could own the Mona Lisa, but how am I contributing to the art world by merely owning the Mona Lisa? No, I believe only its creator and the painting itself is of any value. I play the role of no more than a placeholder..
If I take the argument one level further - It appears Coolness and Brand name usually go hand in hand. But does it really?
I mean after all if I go out a shell out $80 grand and buy myself a brand new Maserati, well then of course, I'll be the coolest cat on the block and the center of all the attention. Because that's how the Maserati brand is built up.
Its all just the perception of being cool. The real winner is the producer of Maserati who pockets your $80K, on a no doubt, highly priced, but exclusive motor vehicle. Don't get me wrong though -its a one fine motor vehicle.
But I could never wrap myself around that concept. If you were truly cool and confident in your individuality, why would you have to pay such a high price (or any price for that matter) to be accepted by others? To be recognized for your 'coolness'.
That's what bugs me about Apple, or any other seller who trick individuals into believing that by buying what they are selling, you automatically become a better person. A more cooler person. And we unfortunately live in a society where such exhibition of money is a quickshot way to get noticed.
"Oh my god, look he's driving a Cadillac Escalade" Or any other fancy vehicle which is the flavor of the moment.
Look I don't mind luxury. And I certainly hope I don't come across as some sort of communist ranting pig. If you honestly feel that a Cadillac Escalade is THE best car in the block and you find true pleasure in manning that particular vehicle, then good on you mate. I have no issues. Again I don't want to come off as trying to dictate how people should live and what they should buy and so on. Just my personal observations and comments. But I'm not going to buy the fact that a more expensive car is simply a better car. No sir, I just can't accept that. I guess its my middle-class, brahmanical outlook on life.
This idea has been tormenting me for years now, when I was probably in 1st year of undergrad, where probably for the first time, I was introduced into the world of upper-class, luxury life-style. I heard about how one of my friend's uncle had paid a one time fee of Rs.10 Lakh to join a prestigious club (the Madras Cricket Club), in addition to a hefty monthly membership fee. Quite a substantial amount (unless of course converted to dollars). My friend then went on about describing the MCC as the playground of the rich and the famous of the Chennai elite. I felt how exciting it would be to be part of this elite crowd. But then after some time (a few months later) I realized that there really is no point in 'paying' yourself into eliteness. You can't buy cool. You can't buy self-confidence. Yes you could well throw money around (if you have it) and buy yourself your 15-minutes of the spotlight. But it does not last.
It only reminds me of those relatively unknown faces who clamor for the gossip columns, those Page-3 types, as we call em back home, who inexplicably are seen in all the right places, grand opening of any restaurant, museum, new hip night-clubs, any over glorified tea shop etc. They live for the sole purpose of attention. They breathe and thrive on publicity and recognition. They sicken me with their presence. They have nothing useful to contribute to others or to society except promoting themselves.
So the reason I went into this long diatribe is because I saw that Apple has today released another batch of Buy Mac Ads. Some of the Ads were funny to begin with, a sort of friendly banter, between Mac and PC. But the ads now are mostly unfunny in its caricatures and have reached beyond their point of welcome.
Here's the link - http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
I know they are only ads, and meant for fun. But I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and had to rant about some of the things wrong in this world
Nav
P.S. I've never owned a Mac, all though I was pretty close to buying one in 2006. I've been happy with my Dell PC. And I constantly look up amazing configurations available now in laptops, in terms of processing speed, RAM and storage space, which were not available upto a few years ago - all under $1000. So why is the base price of any MAC laptop with an ordinary configuration above $1000? I agree Windows Vista has its share of many bugs and crashes. But if the reports on the new Windows 7 is anything to go by, MAC better watch out.
Labels: Advertising, Apple, Commercialism, Spending culture
posted by Nav at 1:08 PM
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