| Home > Of things Mac > New iMacs "can't be too thin"? Watch how soon Eating Disorders groups leap up and complain! |
| New iMacs "can't be too thin"? Watch how soon Eating Disorders groups leap up and complain! | | Date Created: 08 Aug, 2007, 06:28 AM |
|
Now I don't want to be a spoil-sport, and I'll say more about iWork 08 and dot-Mac when I get my hands on them, but for now, wait and watch while Apple Inc. gets a right "royal" pasting for its "You can't be too thin. Or too powerful" headlines for its new iMacs, revealed by Steve Jobs today.
|
 The slogan, a variation on the "You can never be too rich or too thin" phrase allegedly spoken by the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson (although her Wikipedia listing makes no mention of it, but others do without citation), the expression has been co-opted for many different contexts including computing (thin clients) and motoring, as a Google search will show. |
But I'm just waiting for the backlash from the various Eating Disorder groups (self-help and professional-led) who will leap up and condemn Apple for the phrase's use in "promoting" a Western fixation with thinness to the point of illness. Don't be surprised if the real Steve Jobs is personally villified in print.
(I used to do a lot of work in this area, but eventually had a gutful (!) before taking up my passion for anxiety disorders, fear of flying and technology and culture)
Who wants to take bets on how soon this will happen, and whether Apple will change its advertising, with a mea culpa thrown in? |
UPDATE - August 21, 2007: Well, it didn't take too long, but Apple pulled its "too thin" advertising phrase, and there were protests from Eating Disorder groups. How could there not be?
You can see one response, and the comments that followed, here, from the Huffington Post.
And what now greets you at the Apple homepage, trumpeting the new iMac is shown below. And if anyone thinks Apple was merely referring to computers, but using human-inspired terms, go further into the advertising copy to see its use of the term "brains and beauty" here. How often do we see this applied to hardware?
Now I know Macs more than any other PC cause huge amounts of projection of human feelings and characteristics, but in this case, it was just a little to smart for itself, or forgetful.
Lessons learnt.
|
 |
|
|
|
