In the BBC Three TV program “Secrets of the Superbrands,” Alex Riley explores the world of the superbrands – how they get us to buy their products, trust them and even idolize them
“The scenes I witnessed at the opening of the new Apple store in London’s Covent Garden were more like an evangelical prayer meeting than a chance to buy a phone or a laptop,” Alex Riley reports for BBC News. “The strangeness began a couple of hours before the doors opened to the public. Inside the store, glassy-eyed staff were whipped up into a frenzy of excitement, jumping up and down, clapping and shouting. When the doors finally opened, they hysterically ‘high-fived’ and cheered hundreds of delirious customers flooding in through the doors for hours on end.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Glassy-eyed?” Puleeze. We prefer our claptrap without icing.
“And what did those customers – some who’d travelled from as far away as the US and China and slept on the pavement for the privilege – find when they finally got inside? Well, all the same stuff as in the Apple store half a mile away on Regent Street. No special offers, no free gifts (a few t-shirts were handed out), no exclusive products,” Riley reports. “Now that’s devotion.”
“I searched high and low for answers. The Bishop of Buckingham – who reads his Bible on an iPad – explained to me the similarities between Apple and a religion,” Riley reports. “And when a team of neuroscientists with an MRI scanner took a look inside the brain of an Apple fanatic it seemed the bishop was on to something. The results suggested that Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith.”
“Secrets of the Superbrands” can be seen online via iPlayer (UK only) here.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple cultists, this year’s annual cult of Apple indoctrination will be held in San Francisco, June 6-10. Even if you don’t have tickets to potentially hear The Master speak and bathe in His RDF, you can still participate. Every evening, we’ll hop into the vans and go door to door spreading the iOS gospel, selling iTunes Gift Cards and, of course, soliciting Windows to Mac switchers. As usual, the Kool-aid reception is planned for later each night – all are welcome. Do not forget your robes!
[Attribution: TUAW. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Opportun” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
FOX News: Apple is the new religion, say academics – July 29, 2010
Apple to bring iPhone magic to ‘Jesus Tablet?’ – January 04, 2010
BusinessWeek: Apple’s ‘Jesus Tablet’ could change the world – December 30, 2009
Apple iPhone 3G: ‘Jesus Phone’ is about to have its second coming – July 09, 2008
ExtremeTech writer: The worst thing about Apple Macs are the Apple cultists – October 10, 2007
Apple debuts new iPhone ‘God Phone’ print ad (with image) – July 12, 2007
Financial Times hack fearfully employs hackneyed ‘cult’ smear tactic against Apple iPhone, Mac users – June 28, 2007
ABC News hack rails against cult of rabid Steve Jobs fanatics run amok – January 28, 2007
What will become of the ‘Cult of Mac’ now that Apple has become ubiquitous? – September 30, 2006
If Apple is a religion, Steve Jobs is God, Jonathan Ive his Son – March 18, 2006
The Inquirer reports on attack of Apple cultists, blames MacDailyNews for inciting ‘email fatwa’ – March 03, 2006
Boston Herald writer: Jobs, high priest of Apple’s bizarre cult, better unveil something spectacular – January 07, 2006
Newsday writer: ‘Apple iSight is the natural choice for Mac cultists’ – December 13, 2005
Hysteria over iPod nano manufacturing blip proves Apple is not a company – it is a religion – October 01, 2005
USA Today columnist calls Mac users and Apple fans a ‘cult of blind little lemmings’ – September 16, 2005
Music label exec: dealing with Apple ‘like dealing with a cult’ – August 20, 2005
Exuding smugness, the Mac cult minority believe they have seen the truth – April 21, 2005
The iPod is bigger than Jesus, now can Apple’s Mac take on Windows? – January 31, 2005
Wired: Apple’s iTunes Music Store has ‘annoying cult-of-Mac aura’ – July 01, 2004
The Daily Oklahoman: Apple has created millions of fanatical ‘Macheads’ who display cult-like devotion – May 14, 2004
