Apple posts tribute to Rosa Parks, 1913-2005

Apple Computer has dedicated the home page of Apple.com to a “Think Different” tribute to the late Rosa Parks. Apple also has a page with a brief history of Parks’ life and a link to the National Civil Rights Museum.

More here: http://www.apple.com/
And here: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2005/10/rosaparks/

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, We see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Apple Computer

43 Comments

  1. Your version is cute, but it would be totally crass if it were posted on the Apple site. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I think though there would have a whole lot of young civil rights activists back then who would have been plugged into an iPod if they existed.

  2. See the link on the Apple Rosa Parks page for the National Civil Rights Museum. It’s here in Memphis, Tn. Well worth a visit. Come down to the cradle of the Blues & Rock & Roll. There’s still a lot of cool music in the air, good food to eat, places to go and things to do. While you are here you can see the story of the Civil Rights Movement.

  3. Absolutely a great thing Apple has done here and I wish to say that for me the works of Maya Angelou are always a great source of inspiration for me.

    Thank you Apple, you and us Mac users/fans certainly think different in more ways than just in terms of technology.

    I also married a black woman, I myself am white, and I could not be happier!

  4. Sometimes I post things that inflame some and at other times I get inflamed at what others say but the one thing that unites the Mac community is that we ARE different. Another thing that unites our community is the fact that Apple is different from other companies. Of course the company is there to make money but it has a soul that is clearly lacking in other organisations.

    I find Apple’s eulogy to Rosa Parks to be yet another reason to say that I am proud to be a Mac user and that in a world crass commercialism it is touching to see a company cares.

    When I went to their web site I was moved to see the eulogy. Thank you Apple for being that company.

    MDN magic word “yes”

  5. why is the apple slogan, “Think different” on a tribute for Rosa Parks?

    Without that slogan, I could take it seriously as a tribute to her.

    But, then it wouldn’t have as much of an impact, would it?

    Those who don’t believe Apple is trying to attach themselves to Rosa Park are the ones that this ad has really worked on.

  6. Garth:

    A very effective piece of goodwill marketing, especially judging by the comments above. Apple has come a long, long way since their bumbling switcher campaign.

    Ummm… What? You do realize that the “Think different” campaign was before the “Switchers” campaign, don’t you?

  7. I think the points Garth and Gard are trying to make are that by accompanying an archive image of Rosa Parks with the ‘Think Different’ slogan changes the context of the image from ‘news’ to ‘advert’. I’m not suggesting this is what Apple were thinking when doing this, but, it does make one wonder – leaving the image as it was would remove that shadow of doubt. It’s already on the Apple website so we understand that they are creating a tribute towards a great person – perhaps the slogan just over does it? Sal.

  8. Think seriously. Just another opportunity for A large company to look good to the masses in order to advance sales. If they really cared they would not wait until someone died to make a statement. The best honor you can give is to recognize an individual while they are alive. In this manner you display genuinance and not capitalizing on the event at hand.

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