Comments

1. Daniel J. Luke wrote:

   While I can see your point, it’s not quite as bad as you make it out to be.

   Apple first used that image as part of the “Think Different” add campaign a few years ago.

   Also, if you click the picture it doesn’t link to iPods, but to a short biography.

   There’s also some history of Apple doing things like this to honor people:

   http://writersblocklive.com/?p=10

   So while it may come off as a cheap stunt, I don’t think it was intended that way.

   Posted 28 Oct 2005 at 11:55 am ¶

2. Editorial wrote:

   You have a typo in your first sentence: ” Rosa Park’s” Rosa Parks is her name, so the possessive version would be Rosa Parks’ or Rosa Parks’s depending upon your standard style.

   Posted 28 Oct 2005 at 4:09 pm ¶

3. CVK wrote:

   Fixed - thanks!

   Posted 29 Oct 2005 at 4:44 pm ¶

4. Michael Hurt wrote:

   I don’t really feel ya on the exploitative tip there. I’m a devoted Apple user, which may make my comment seem like an unreasoned defense, but it is rather the reponse of someone who fell in love with the company because of its singular philosophy of basically being a shitkicker. In that sense, I don’t think the previous ad campaign’s hauling out of people who “think different” felt at all like the standard corporate ploy to exploit.

   is a major corporation out to primarily make money? of course, and apple’s no different. but the reason no one said much about using images of lennon or einstein is that apple - more so back in the early days - really earned its right to place itself up there with the real shitkickers who changed parameters and paradigms. from the days of the greenscreen first apple computers that were the first to really bring computers to the real people in the world, to the macintosh, apple’s seen itself that way, having kicked off the launch of the mac with the infamous and ingenious “1984″ commercial in which they basically told the IBM and Microsoft robots to go stick it up their collective ass. and that was before apple was big, super coroporate, and had cool white widgets that everybody wanted. they were just so insanely confident in their own genius from the git go that they thought their ideas would simply win the day.

   and they were partially wrong, partially right. microsoft stole the idea for a spectacular, graphic-based user interface it would call Windows from apple. yes, apple got it from from a xerox special projects team, but basically as a gift, since no one could think of it as being practical. apple recognized the practicality intstantly.

   so, really, as much as we now may see apple getting all corporate and cool in its success, if it weren’t for them, we’d still be typing obscure words into a cold, dark command line and find ourselves dependent on a narrow technorati, like back in the day: no playing with fonts, personal publishing, photoshopping, on and on.

   apple may be annoyingly and cloyingly “übercool” these days, but for most of its life, it’s been an uphill battle, and one in which they nearly got taken out more than a couple times. but they stuck to their guns and their ideas have really won the day. firewire, quicktime, and several other technologies that we take advantage of all the time.

   and yes, i am also annoyed that the ipod has become a yuppie item. but we also can’t deny that they’ve initiated a revolution in music as well, whether we like itunes or not. and they’re still going.

   so i think that within their field, which was and still is dominated by behemoths that originally wanted to use, abuse, and do away with them, apple has proved itself as a scrappy underdog that wrested by sheer intellectual force and belief in a real philosophy of simplicity and access its place in the world. and it’s a struggle we all benefit from, every single time we turn on any computer – especially Windoze.

   so i think apple deserves boasting rights, as well as the right to give a shout out to Ms. Parks. Or to Einstein. Or Lennon. Apple has paid its dues in my eyes.

   Cut ‘em a bit of slack. I found the nod to Rosa extremely appropriate in light of the company’s self-image from the beginning and self-styling into the present. It wasn’t like GM or someone had put together an ad with the tag line being “Buy GM. Rosa would have” or something. Sure, any implied corporate branding on Apple’s part by referring to Rosa has to do with her image as a woman who wasn’t going to take any more shit from the Man. Maybe it’s arrogant to place yourself in the same category as these great intellectual, artistic, and political rebels – but if any corporate entity deserves to – or at least deserves the benefit of the doubt that it was well-intentioned, I think it’s Apple.

   In my eyes, Apple did for personal computing what Lennon did for music, Einstein did for physics, and for what Rosa did for social justice. They all played a crucial role in shaping the better world that we live in today. Otherwise, why would we honor them? I’m glad that they made the choice to give Ms. Parks a mention – cause she deserves to be standing up there with all the white men who get all the credit for shaping our world.

   Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 6:07 am ¶

5. Anonymous wrote:

   I agree with your comment. Their merchandise is crap, as my ipod has failed me twice within a year and as you said, with this little comment attached; in addition to giving up to the shortcomings of our government do to a deficiency she should not represent this stupid, like you said overpriced crap. crap. crap. i hate apple.

   Posted 05 Nov 2005 at 8:20 pm ¶

6. Tiptay wrote:

   Wat it do this tiptay…i just wanna thank Rosa Parks for letting blacks get to sit in tha front of the bus…but its still races people out there anyways…so i dont know what to say about that…peace out…

   Posted 25 Jan 2006 at 12:22 pm ¶

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