Figure 1.1 Waiting for an iPhone 5... For No Reason
Source: Youtube
Professor Michael Petit introduced me to this Youtube clip in our media studies class earlier this week, and while bursts of laughter were prevalent in the reactions of my colleagues, the feeling which I demonstrated was that of defensiveness on the one hand, and sympathy with Rachel on the other. In the video, the audience is introduced to Rachel, a young woman who is situated outside of a retailer for Apple's iPhone 5, as it is the initial stages of the product's flourish (Youtube: Waiting for an iPhone 5... For no Reason). Rachel is placed in a comedic light because there is no logic in the responses with which she suggests: this is illustrated perfectly when she finds herself being asked about her inspiration for the decision to purchase the product based upon the device's functions, only to acknowledge a great ignorance in relation to the myriad of aspects encapsulated in the phone (Youtube: Waiting for an iPhone 5... For No Reason). This is undoubtedly humorous because one would expect that such uncertainty permeating an object does not correlate to the passionate obtaining of the object, though Rachel contradicts this. The reporter's curiosity then finds representation in his questioning of the catalyst which has resulted in such a vehement desire in relation to Rachel's attaining of Apple's communication device, and the latter explains that it is merely external matters that have led her to her conclusion (Youtube: Waiting for an iPhone 5... For No Reason). Her appreciation of the particular piece of technology extends to such facts as she enjoys the visual of the company's logo, an apple, while she is also enticed by knowledge of the device's colour (Youtube: Waiting for an iPhone 5... For No Reason). While the lecture hall laughed, I did not because my relationship to the iPhone had the same foundation as Rachel's.
Source: Apple.com/ca
To be honest, I did not know that I wanted an iPhone until I encountered an image of the device in white. Admittedly, the iPhone was not the first product I had that was made by Apple, as I had 2 Ipods and a MacBook, but these items had special functions to me: I have always loved music so there was no questioning of my purchase of the Ipod, while my schoolwork took place on the screen of a computer, so the MacBook was necessity. I have thus always preferred technological devices with the apple on it. On the other hand though, the cellphone that I did have received little engagement from me, as I had never sent many calls to friends and family; text messaging was never an activity that I brought myself into; and internet use was rare for me. But there was no ambiguity in my mind that, much like Rachel, I needed the white iPhone. While my knowledge of the device was greater than that suggested of Rachel in the Youtube clip, I knew that my main catalyst was that it was a product manufactured by Apple on the one hand, and that the white was a new conception on the other. This is connected to a suggestion made by Professor Petit in relation to the notion of advertising, which was that there is no ambiguity in the fact that a catalyst must always be prevalent which will allow a consumer to come into contact with a product, whether through a commercial or the reading of a magazine, and soon come to feel that same object in their palms (Lecture: 10 Sept. 2013). I can certainly attest to Professor's words in this regard, for within a month of building a desirous relationship with the iPhone of my choice through advertising, I was sitting in my living room, on the Facebook app of the device.
Works Cited
“iPhone 4s White.” Web Image. Apple.com. n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013
Petite, Michael. "Marxist Analysis." The University of Toronto at Scarborough. The
University of Toronto, Scarborough, ON. 10 Sept. 2013. Lecture.
Roberts, Sam. “Waiting for an iPhone 5… For No Reason.” Online Video Clip. Youtube.
Youtube. 22. Sept. 2012. 14 Sept. 2013.
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