Branding and Control

Smartphone dependency is largely a result of branding and control. Large tech companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung have created brands that are synonymous with high-status and wealth. We will focus on the Apple corporation in this section, as it is perhaps the most prominent example of how a brand can monopolize our lives.

Apple has always used emotional appeal as a marketing strategy. Above is one of the popular Mac vs. PC commercials from the 2006-era "Get a Mac" advertising campaign. (Wikipedia) The intent of this campaign was to make Macs appear to be better-performing alternatives to Microsoft Windows PCs. These commercials were intended to illustrate a relaxed, positive image for Apple Inc. This commercial personifies the PC and Mac computers. The PC computer personified is uptight, over-dressed, nerdy, and problem-ridden. By contrast, the Mac computer personified is relaxed, casually-dressed, cool, and simple. These qualities appeal to the emotion of attraction. Apple recognizes that these qualities will be received by the public as positive and attractive. Although these ads aren't still running, they encapsulate entirely what the Apple brand is trying to capture: "lifestyle, imagination, liberty regained, innovation, passion, hopes, dreams... aspirations, and power-to-the-people." (Marketing Minds, 2016) In other words, Apple brands itself as a company that is for the people when others are not.

The consistency that Apple has had in its product quality and design throughout the twenty-first century has made it perhaps the most recognizable tech brand in the world. The company has focused on simplicity in order to accumulate the fan-base they currently have. Simplicity is the primary inspiration for the visual elements of Apple. The slim, attractive, and minimalist design their products have always been famous for has attracted, and continues to attract, consumers from around the globe. Their sleek design coupled with their "flagship" (high-end) performing hardware makes for a computing brand that anyone and everyone is attracted to.

Because people are so attracted to the Apple brand, Apple aids in the stirring the smartphone epidemic. Nearly half (45.2%) of the US smartphone-using population has an Apple iPhone. (Statista, 2019). That means that nearly half of those who are smartphone addicted in the US are really iPhone addicted. If more people use Apple products, the company has more control over a larger population. Control, in this context, is providing a catalyst for hyper-surveillance and data collection. Truthfully, privacy theft is in issue that is being generated by Google, Facebook, and other large internet/social media companies. However, Apple (along with smartphone manufacturers in general) provides a means through which these companies can conduct data collection operations. This situation is further