paper 5 draft

here is paper 5. I thought it was due in discussion but its due on the blog. Sorry for being a day late I didn't have time to post it.

Sam Blackman

iPods and Intrinsic American Values


The iPod commercials by Apple Inc. created the image that iPods made in the United States embodied the most attractive qualities of American innovation. To the American population that was witness to this groundbreaking invention in portable music, the iPod was at first a novelty into the “is it really possible” category of modern electronic gadgets. The respective Walkmans, Discmans, and minidisk players all had tangible, possible to take apart and see how it functions parts, while the iPod did not, and was and still is essentially a handheld computer. Immediately surpassing the competition, this jump forward in technology, in ease of leisure, breadth of music available, and sophistication all encapsulated in the iPod, was momentous in it’s 2001 debut. But the topic of this analysis is not on the physicality of the iPod, but on the Apple commercials for the iPod; the catalyst for the worldwide craze to be a part of the elite group toting the crème de la crème of portable music and leisure devices.
Today within the first millisecond of seeing an iPod commercial you know exactly what brand and what item is being marketed. The signature black silhouette of a man or woman, moving perfectly to the rhythm of an edgy and timelessly catchy tune. The crisp contrasting white earbuds and flowing wires into an also white, unobtrusive iPod. The background and its flashing, vibrant, solid colors, mesmerizing the eyes of anyone remotely close to a TV or video player. This is the ad campaign that jettisoned iPods popularity in the United States and now the world sky high.
So what about this commercial hit a major resonance point within consumer society? The extremely simple presentation of the commercial; there is nothing more than flashing lights and figures of youthful fashionable people dancing with a music player in hand. This seems hardly enough of a reason to capture an entire culture. But it is. Every aspect of the commercial touches a principal of what it means to be American. The ease of which excellent music is available to play at the listener’s discretion is made absolutely clear in the commercial. The fact that you can dance and walk around and do whatever you like while still getting to listen to crystal clear music is classic American leisure activity brought up to speed with the modernity of the 21st century. The saying goes, “ Nobody does leisure like the Americans.” The Cony Island experience, where visitors merely had to exist in that space to enjoy the pleasures of the different themed areas, represents how ease of pleasure no matter the outlet is a timeless American quality. The iPod is synonymous with Cony Island in this example. The owner of an iPod only has to charge the device, plug in headphones or a stereojack, and the result is instant gratification- a theme park ride for our ears.
The characters of the iPod commercial, only barely resembling the two sexes, highlight the target audience and most influential sect of popular culture in America. The trend-setting urban young adults, savvy to the next hot item seem to emanate from the black silhouettes of the TV ads. The outline of their clothing is suggestive and clearly noticeable to only the most perceptive and watchful eyes. The dancers in the commercials wear high boots and shoes, baggy pants that somehow appear supremely synced to their every motion, hats and jackets also adorn these shadowfaces of America. There is no speaking from these characters, they only move to the rhythm of the commercial’s music in ways that would be considered cool and hip forms of modern dancing- nothing old fashioned or of style that could be said to be recognizable. This relates to the savvy-youthful and hip lure the commercial is intended to portray. These dancers, these styles, you can have all of this coolness that comes with the iPod is what the commercial wants to say to the viewer. Apple doesn’t even need to stamp their classic Macintosh apple logo onto the end, but they do it anyways.
The original iPod debuted in 2001, and so did the original commercial. For nearly 10 years the commercial’s format was unchanged and highly successful at selling the product to the masses. One of the leading reasons for the popularity of the iPod was the uniformity of iPod commercials around the country. Generally when Apple began airing iPod commercials after a relative lull on TV, people who had grown familiar to the classic bright lights, hot music, and cutting edge dance moves that signified an iPod, understood that if Apple was playing ads more frequently, there must be some sort of upgrade, or improved version of iPod available, and that to be cool again, like the characters of the TV commercial, to be savvy, they needed to go and purchase it.
There were obvious tweaks to the iPod commercials over the years. The music was frequently changed to reflect what Apple and the marketing gurus there felt was the most appropriate tune of that period to continue the idea alive that the iPod was still the hottest mp3 player around. Not until within the last three years were there noticeable alterations to the format of the iPod commercial. Most striking was the incorporation of new computer visual technology. The advancements in color hue capabilities and amount of pixels that could be crammed into a small space made it easier for Apple to expand on the complexity of the iPod commercials while still having that base coolness factor. One of the more recent iPod commercials starring the popular American band, Coldplay displays this clear step forward in iPod advertising. Instead of having blacked out figures of people who embodied the image of American hipness, Apple felt they had created a large enough support base and had attracted enough loyal iPod customers that they could begin having the type of popstars who’s music would have before accompanied the traditional dancing character actually be visibly a part of the commercial. This was taking the iPod a step further along the social chain of cool. Instead of the social group associated with being ahead of the curve on the latest and in on the secret of what is desirable, Apple began to show that the most successful people within that field of urban trend-setters were iPod users and that the iPod obviously was an integral part of their music.
The iPod commercials also fit perfectly into the consumer culture of America by providing a short and sweet taste of the ultimate leisure device in music.