Media Meditation #3. I'm getting sick of iPods

The iPod is a portable media player designed and marketed by Apple and launched in 2001. There are five types of iPod’s and then twenty versions of each type in all. That is a lot of iPod’s in 8 years. iPod’s are almost a necessity these days, and with Apple being the leading seller, why not invest in this $300 device? I, for one have had many issues with Apple and iPod’s over the years. They have a series of problems, which may contribute to why there seems to be a new one advertised every few months. Some of these problems include battery problems, short life-span, and fragile hard drives. 

Apple uses distinct advertising campaigns to promote the iPod. These campaigns use dark silhouettes of people dancing against colorful backgrounds with a white ipod in their hands. The commercials include hit songs at the time, and they feature certain artists on the packaging. These commercials stimulate the limbic brain because of the bright colors, music, and dancing people. They are pleasing to the eye and people respond to them well, seeing how over 100 million iPod's were purchased just between 2001 and 2007. Apple's marketing techniques seem to be the reason so many are sold, using persuasive techniques such as symbols (the classic iPod), beautiful people (beautiful people's voices at least, in the form of a song on a commercial), and band wagon (because everyone has an iPod). The repetition of these ad's have made the iPod an icon, and when people see the symbol they instantly think iPod and Apple.

Media & Culture says, "Most recently, the Internet and multimedia devices, such as computers, mobile phones, and portable media players, have had a significant impact on visual design and advertising... visual design has evolved in other ways, becoming more three-dimensional, as full-motion, 3-D animation becomes a high-bandwidth multimedia standard. At the same time, design is also more simple, as ads and logos need to appear clearly on the small screens of mobile phone and media players, and more international, as agencies need to appeal to the global audiences of many companies and therefore need to reflect styles from anywhere in the world." In a nutshell, the iPod commercials people see are designed specifically for them to buy a certain product. Even if the product may prove to be inefficient, people will do anything to get what is "in".