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Why do most customers in my coffee shop use Mac Computers?

There are some things that we love to hate. Sports stars and movie stars, in general, can make normally nice people have strong, irrational feelings. I'll admit I have a strong aversion to Tom Brady and Tom Cruise. Politicians make it their business to cultivate the “We v They” atmosphere around their campaigns. But politicians, sports figures, and movie stars are people. They have press agents and handlers that control the access to them and the image they want to create. That all works well until one of their husbands sneaks out and has an affair with another woman. Or, they decide a threesome with two underage girls is appropriate. In many ways, they can earn our anger and disrespect. But what about brand names?

In a recent article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/technology/24apple.html?hpw columnist), Miguel Helft writes that success, Apple has now become the bad guy in the technology sector. This is after being the company you loved because they were the underdog to Dell, IBM, and Microsoft. It seems one of their sins these days is about being exclusive. Steve Jobs, the legendary head of Apple, is fighting with Adobe about video standards on his IPad and iPhone products.

Mention Starbucks to some people, and you would think you were talking about the despotic dictator of some third world country that leads child armies into battle. In Milwaukee, we have a local coffee company, Alterra. They are a good company, employ many people, and have helped neighborhoods recover by building stores in under-resourced retail areas. Unlike national chain stores, they pour back a lot of money into the community and by local products and services to run their business. I’m and proud and loyal customer.

However, about a block away from my condo is a Starbucks. They employ local people. They are located next door to our independent bookstore. Starbucks is known to pay well and provide benefits for even its part-time people. They are one of the retail anchors in my very walkable retail district. I’m also a customer of Starbuck’s

Yes, Brands can be hated for seemingly good reasons. British Petroleum or BP comes to mind. You remember BP? They are the ones that made us forget that Toyota was purposely trying to kill all of us, one runaway vehicle at a time.

Like so many things, this visceral feeling regarding brands has to do with the “We are what we buy” culture we live in. There are “Mac” people, and then there are “PC” people, GAP v Banana Republic, Miller v Bud, and Coke v Pepsi. Each one of those products and their counterparts brings, to many people, the image of the kind of people that buy and use them.

What I think Helft was, maybe inadvertently pointing out, is what used to be counter-culture, the Macintosh computer, was suddenly mainstream. What used to define a certain subset in society now belongs to everybody. It lost its uniqueness. It’s the local garage band that is suddenly Top 40. Some people have problems with that. It requires us to reassess, to redefine, and it takes effort. Effort some people have trouble with or resent having to deal with it. 

For the record, you will not catch me dead in a Walmart.

BP

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