Apple, Google, Microsoft – are you a Brand Taliban or Brand Evangelist?

He's right on the money

For everyone except for me , of course.

[Note: this post was prepared in a factory that processes irony. This post may contain traces of irony.]

Apple?

I like Apple products, but in my experience (iMac G5, Mac Mini, iPod Touch and iMac G3) the hardware is sometimes unreliable and expensive to repair. I also like the iPhone but cannot get used to not having a proper keyboard so stuck with the far inferior WinMo.

As for being a "Brand Evangelist", well Amiga is best!

Readers, is Green right?

No. Move along.

Nope, he's got it arse about face

yes, there's a sense of alienation, but a lot people try to fend that off by aligning themselves with a brand, just as the advertising industry has taught them. That brand comes to represent something about them which they must defend at all costs, because otherwise they're exposing themselves to doubt about their judgement and self-worth.

It's just stuff, stop taking it seriously!

The BP thing is a complete red herring: an America that has been bashed over the head continually about the environment has seized upon a legitimate bogeyman that is demonstrably doing a environmental harm, yet is conveniently un-American enough that it can be demonised while overlooking the inconvenient fact that nobody would be drilling for oil in the Gulf if there wasn't the demand for the stuff in the first place...

Jingoism

This used to be the realm of politics but because corporations now can be more powerful than nations, jingoism has entered into the consumer market as well.

I think journalists are themselves to blame for this. As bias, economic agenda and advertiser pressure are dictating journalism to such a degree that people simply can't trust publications to be neutral anymore.

And without that trust only polarized responses are possible.

(and no, English is not my native language)

Meh...

Methinks he's taken one example and extrapolated that across the whole of society.

Sure it applies in some situations, and to some entities. For example, the giants of the world:

BP, Exxon,

Microsoft, Google, Apple

Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Eric Schmidt

USA, China, Russia

But the same feelings aren't aroused in other situations, or by other entities. Take cars, for example. Car lovers may be mild-tempered Brand Evangelists, but most aren't Brant Talibans. And I can't remember the last time someone ranted against IBM... LG... Whirlpool.. or Fiji.

Maybe it has something to do with the tall poppy syndrome.

And in any event, we all know what happens when you extrapolate from a tiny sample.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/yamal_scandal/

I'm neither (or is that Spartacus?), and so are my friends

I'm actually not bothered for most things. I use Windows where it is appropriate, Linux where that is appropriate, and have used Macs when that's what has been available. As far as I'm concerned it's "horses for courses". I use Windows for music composition, because the FLOSS programs are not fit for purpose (something which baldly tells me "your kernel tick rate is too slow" without any hint of even what it should be or what I can do about it is useless; a program which crashes every few minutes is similarly useless). I use Linux for reading email (I can't get viruses with a text-only mailer!) and for developing my own software.

Most people I know are the same. Probably because none of use are keen on extremism or absolutism, we just want to get the jobs done.

Pro / anti BP?

Surely that's where this all breaks down. BP produces oil and petroleum products that are to all intents and purposes indistinguishable from every other oil company. How can you be a brand evangelist when you can't tell the difference? The only thing that really distinguishes them are their logos and okay - on that alone, BP has the best logo.

It's different where phones and computers are concerned as you can at least pick on some aspect speed/design/OS etc and love it/loathe it.

As for why we do it? Surely it's down to a need to justify our expenditure? 'I've bought brand X therefore it HAS to be the best!'

Why can't we all just get along?

And direct our hatred at Sony? Still haven't forgiven them for that whole rootkit thing. Or for squeezing MiniDisc to death by not letting anyone else play in their sandbox. Or for...

Anyways, my $0.02 about the whole topic is that it is rarely about people responding negatively to a corporation itself. The corporation is a catalyst for hating the most common stereotype of the that corporation's fanboys. How many Apple bashers really hate APPLE? I don't think many do. Some may disagree strongly with Steve Jobs' decisions, and indeed with the board of directors for letting him get away with it. On the whole though I think people are clued in enough to realise that Apple is thousands of employees, and hating the whole company is stupid.

People do, however, Tend to hate Apple FANBOYS. The interesting part is that the very specific fanboys that people love to hate most likely aren’t even the majority of Apple users. They are simply the most vocal. These evangelical fanboys not only defend Apple’s good name, but frequently go on the offensive against other companies. Seemingly this behaviour is as much a pre-emptive defence of Apple as anything; switch the topic to the misdeeds or failures of “the other guys” rather than allow focus to take place on the inadequacies of their chosen club.

This “going on the offensive” is, I think, what gets under a lot of people’s skin. They start to hate fanboys of a particular company, and this soon is transposed into hating that company itself.

Now of course this isn’t a one-size-fits-all analysis, but it is what I believe represents the majority of individuals who fit into “brand evangelisers” or “brand haters.” You could replace the word “Apple” in the above with any company (or even product) that attracts a hard-core cadre of evangelical believers.

I think the action/reaction is not between “my company/product” and “your company/product” but between “extremism + evangelism” and “people who have a more moderate view of life.” I know that I personally prefer to look at things as objectively as possible. Try to see the middle ground, understand all angles of a thing and compromise when and where necessary.

People who are stubborn, evangelical or extremist can get my hackles up fairly quickly. I can’t understand them. Why can’t they see both the good and bad in people, products and ideologies? Why can they never seem to seek a happy medium between their preferences and desires and the requirements of others?

Even though after decades of being on the internet, my skin should really be thicker, these people can and do get to me. So I can, and do, develop irrational prejudices against a corporation based on the actions of the individuals who evangelise that corporation or it’s products.

Apple is a great example. They make a fine operating system, and (some) of their equipment is not bad. (Overpriced, but not bad at all.) Despite this, I wouldn’t use it unless forced to, because I simply can’t shake the mental association between Apple and the terribly irritating [string of expletives] who won’t shut up about it. In the case of Apple, all the bit of their works that I personally find valuable also exist in other products, such as Solaris or Linux. Though they may not be quite so easy to use as Apple, I find myself far more willing to use Solaris or Linux than I would be willing to use Apple.

I am aware of this prejudice, and work carefully not to let it influence my professional business decisions. Apple, Linux, Solaris, Windows…they have their benefits and their flaws, and as stated above, I am a moderate.

Still, literally /decades/ of terrifyingly irritating smug self-centred narrow-minded elitist hipster Apple fanatics has poisoned me against personally using that company’s products on any personal level at all. Even though I recognise that those types of fanboys are probably only about 20% of the user base…they are my personal Kryptonite.

I am sure it will be easy for other commenters to read this comment and reply with something witty like “so just get over it, man! Apple’s great!” I have nothing I could say to that, so I won’t. I can’t get over it; decades of exposure have burned a deep dislike of these people (and by transference their chosen company) deep into my soul. Think post-traumatic stress syndrome, but instead of being caused by a war, it’s by over exposure to douchebags.

The Berlin Fence is no more...

People make the choices they want, and, judging from a number of conversations which I've observed or in which I've participated, it seems that slighting what others feeling strongly - I daresay religious - about takes little more than offering an alternate viewpoint.

The first day I touched a Macintosh, I felt an overwhelming compulsion to wash my hands; yet, I appreciate the fact others have a choice in their computing architecture. (I loved Apple ]['s,mind you...)

Sometimes, the fence is the safest place to sit. Obligation to side on an issue is entirely self-imposed.