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TwitterIn a recent article by Simon Mills of the Daily Mail he raises some very valid questions about Apples aggressive and subliminal marketing methods and how these use the rawest of emotional triggers like scarcity and fear to get you to hand over you’re hard earned money. Essentially we’re talking about the way they make you feel left out and inferior if you don’t use their tech products. Its definitely worth a read, Apple fanatic or not!
What are your personal thoughts on Apple, do you salivate at the mention of an imminent Steve Jobs Product Demo?
Anyone that owns the iPhone will know that its overrated, nice phone with some gizmos, but definitely overrated and for this product alone they use explosive marketing techniques to sell it, that could easily sell snow to an Eskimo. Like in the iPhone ad’s they are loaded with marketing techniques to get you so emotionally charged that you NEED one NOW! And if you don’t own one you are a schmuck!
They package their products and software using a superficial antiseptic positioning that appeals to the widest category of user. Clean and clinical visual aesthetics giving you a plethora of solutions to problems that never even existed! Usability and operational protocols that make your head spin and can waste hours upon hours of your valuable time by giving you an “experience” – have you used iTunes recently? Absolutely dire user interface in my opinion!
And for the iPhone users reading this… What! you haven’t got the app (promoted in the recent TV ad) that enables you to switch your house lights off from your mobile when you have left them on… how on earth did you ever manage to live without it? Well, if your a fully coherent adult then maybe you do what what most sensible humans do and turn them off before you leave the house, just a suggestion. Its the aggressive marketing of useless products such as this, highlighting fabricated problems that make me question the sanity of an Apple lover!
Simon Mills’ article headline is “WHY I HATE APPLE”, but I certainly don’t hate Apple i just personally think that they use very hard and aggressive marketing tactics – or some would even say manipulation – when selling you overpriced technology made in intensive working conditions, and it seems they have an increasing number of Apple followers hypnotized by their marketing blurb and design posturing who say “yes sir” to their every command. Strange, or is it?
Here are two quotes from guys who have recently got their hands on the iPad when launched Friday May 28th 2010. The first lad had been queing at the Apple store since mid day Thursday.
“I can’t explain it – ridiculously amazing. I want a go on it now. I’m so excited”. Jake Lee, Essex
“Just to see this is fantastic. It is a phenomenal event. There’s never been anything like it. To say i was here is rather a nice feeling, it’s a momentous occasion and I’m enormously excited”. Stephen Fry, TV Presenter.
Is it just me or do these 2 fruit-loops want certifying with Apple Trauma?
I take you now to a recent article from The Daily Telegraph, Business section titled “Factory Suicides force China to rethink ethos” written by Malcolm Moore that is absolutely worth a read. Here are a few related blogs that cover the same story.
The article focuses on the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China and how 11 suicide attempts have been made this year alone with sadly 9 being successful. It gets worse! A recent update in Malcolm Moore’s articles now suggest there have been 16 suicide attempts with 12 suceeding in killing themselves. Here the 300,000 workers make the iPad in addition to assembling products for Apple, Dell, Nokia, Nintendo and Sony. The most recent suicide casualty being 19-year old young man, Lai Hai from the central Province of Hunan, who fell from the roof of a dormitory building at Foxconn’s Longhua factory at the end of May 2010. “This leaves the largest manufactuer in the world in crisis” Malcom writes.
Malcolm goes on to say “A spate of recent suicides at Foxxconn has highlighted concerns over working conditions inside the giant Longhua factory.” The death comes as Apple prepares to launch the iPad in the UK at the end of this week. Yesterday Apple declined to comment on the situation”. I’ll guess they thought something along the lines of “if our bottom-line is on the up, we aint seen or heard nothing”
“The company has drafted psychiatrists, set up helplines, and even strung nets between buildings to catch jumpers. But the latest death shows how powerless it is to stop the suicide cluster from growing.
Nets installed at a Foxconn factory to prevent suicides
I don’t often feel sympathy for Foxconn – it is a notoriously secretive company which has a record of bullying its workers. However, it seems to me that Mr Gou is caught in a nasty bind.
In the full glare of the media spotlight, he was forced yesterday to retract a letter that he wanted his employees to sign that made them promise not to harm themselves.”
Your slick Apple product doesn’t look so sexy now, i bet!
An update posted by Malcolm Moore this week says “Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, said he finds a string of suicides at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer of the iPad, “troubling”. “It is very troubling,” said Mr Jobs yesterday at a technology conference in California. “Apple does one of the best jobs of any company understanding the working conditions of our supply chain, ” he added. “We are all over this”. Mr Jobs did not offer an immediate solution to the problem. “It is a difficult situation,” he said, in his first comment on the suicides. “We are trying to understand right now, before we go in and say we know the solution.”
“The reasons for the sudden spate of suicides remain unclear. However, the military-style working regime at foxconn’s Longhua plant, in which more than 300,00 people work, has been heavily criticised. Workers are forbidden to talk on the production line, even in their short breaks, and many have complained about of feeling lonely and alienated inside the giant factory.”
“In addition, the enormous demand for some products – including the 2m unit-selling iPad – appears to have placed an intolerable strain on Foxconn workers, who are quitting the Longhua factory at the rate of 15,000 a month. On the production line, workers have routinely worked more than 70 hours a week – above Apple’s own guide – to fill orders. Nethertheless, Mr Jobs insisted that Foxconn, which is one of Apple’s most important suppliers , was “not a sweatshop”.
“Foxconn yesterday agreed to immediately raise the basic salaries of its workers by a third. Wages are expected to rise from 900 yuan (£90) a month to 1,200 yuan. The company which employs more than 800,000 workers in China, said the decision to raise wages was not a direct response to the suicides. It maintains that the spate of deaths is not work-related or above the average rate for young people, and that suicides were mainly caused by personal problems among the victims.”
“Foxconn said the pay rise would help it to attract better-qualified workers at a time when there are labour shortages across China’s manufacturing belts.”
Apple Overtakes Microsoft
And all this as Apple overtakes Microsoft to be the second biggest US company. Rowena Mason from The Daily Telegraph writes “Apple, inventor of the iPod and iPhone, has become the world’s biggest technology company – eclipsing arch-rival Microsoft in size. The California-based company’s shares rose 1pc, taking its market value to more than $222bn by close of trading in New York on Wednesday.
This edged it ahead of Microsoft, which has a market capitalisation of $219bn, and put it in second place behind the world’s largest company, ExxonMobil. The oil giant is worth $282bn. Apple almost went out of business in the 1990s, but has enjoyed a resurgence based on the popularity of its stylish devices targeted at young technology fans.”
So the next time you go for your next big hit, pull out your iPad and salivate over the screen or any Apple product for that matter, maybe you should look a little closer at your values and think about the huge profits made on these products by Apple, what you’re really getting back for investing your hard earned cash, apart from being used a guinea pig for V2 and also take a moment to think about the workers in China and what they are being paid, the intense hours required to work 7 days a week.
This may help you reassess your technology investments and reconsider loading more money into the pockets of the f’kin minted Apple Inc. who manufacturer the oh so sweet and friendly, easy on the eye Apple products.
- If after reading this you still hell bent on grabbing the new Apple iPad then here is where to source it with the least carbon footprint for your country: United Kingdom | United States | Canada.
- Decided to stick with a PC based machine or laptop then this is your best selection: PC World.co.uk
Comments, thoughts, insults. leave them below please. Juice37!
