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I'd say first and foremost Apple is promoting Apple.

Sure it's a good thing to show tribute to important persons. But isn't it obvious enough to see that this is also just a PR tactic.

So, what? Seriously. The first word in PR is public (you know, people who care about King). I'm a bit tired of people thinking PR is some even plot to control our minds. Are we that weak?
 
Is this sarcasm? If not it's one of the most ridiculous posts I have ever read. Apple is out to make money, period. If they were out to improve lives they would not be sitting on billions while charging outrageous prices. It's either sarcasm or apple worship a.t it's highest form.

Apple should absolutely continue doing this. Apple's company goal isn't making computers. Their goal is to improve the lives of people (mostly by way of making nice computers, music players, phones and tablets). Here they found a different way of improving the lives of people.


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I`m white, straight male, atheist... May I use my Apple devices or it`s not for useless (always guilty for everything) race like mine anymore... ?

I'm mexican and not affected by white guilt.:)
 
"I had the -- just tremendous respect for both of them, and so I do," he said. "I look at them every day because I think for people -- there's still too many cases in the world and in the United States where there's a class kind of structure or where voting or people are trying to convince each other that this other group of people don't deserve the same rights. And I think it's crazy, I think it's un-American."[/url]

:rolleyes:

Gonna start paying those Foxcon workers a typical middle class wage, Tim?
 
Gosh dang it some of you guys are just ridiculous! MLK was a HUGE factor in why there's a shred of equality in our country today. Stop biching and moaning. Was he a womanizer....probably. I mean he was basically a rockstar. Did he smoke cigarettes....yea. Everybody has faults. Some greater than others, but the dude literally sacrificed his life so that one day millions of people wouldn't have to be treated and looked at like animals. I THINK it's ok to honor him.......
 
Oh, and I prefer companies involving themselves overtly like this (even if its a backdoor promotion) than pouring their money into lobbying... At least this is overt. They are putting their reputation on the line.
I'm glad you understand this is a backdoor promo unlike a bunch of the people here. However, Apple never puts anything on the line when they do these promos. The public figures they display are generally dead (so they can't embarrass themselves) and widely acclaimed by people on all sides of the political spectrum. Similarly, Apple endorses social causes only when it is clear which side will eventually prevail and after the controversy has peaked (ie. signing up for environmentalism in the 2000s and gay rights in 2008 with the quiet prop 8 donation).

I will be a lot less cynical about Apple's motives when they endorse a movement that isn't already powerful.

In doing this, they can later be called hypocrites if they don't respect their previous actions.
Apple doesn't live up to the reputation of any of the people in their Think Different campaign posters, some people do call them hypocrites, and no, it doesn't matter. That isn't a real risk. This kind of promo has no downsides.

Social responsibility and involvement of companies in their communities is how it was in the past.
Putting the power of multinationals towards 'community' and 'social' causes necessary takes a portion of the power away from individuals as corporations have a far louder voice. This is why you decried lobbying just a few words ago. On top of that, corps always twist their 'social responsibility' so it benefits them- witness McDonald's how to get welfare websites. As far as I'm concerned, Apple can stick to making good gadgets following all applicable laws, and you and I can worry about bringing in the right laws and backing the right social causes.

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Gosh dang it some of you guys are just ridiculous! MLK was a HUGE factor in why there's a shred of equality in our country today. Stop biching and moaning. Was he a womanizer....probably. I mean he was basically a rockstar. Did he smoke cigarettes....yea. Everybody has faults. Some greater than others, but the dude literally sacrificed his life so that one day millions of people wouldn't have to be treated and looked at like animals. I THINK it's ok to honor him.......
Nobody has a problem with honoring him. Some people have a problem displaying his image two inches below a corporate logo and right below the 'Store' button.
 
I see Apple honoring famous people on their homepage. Especially the ones that is black and already dead. It's a good thing and the right thing to do, especially from a company perspective that is dealing with diverse consumers and employees.

However, I still do see Apple is racist against Asians because I never see them honoring any famous asian people on their homepage :D
 
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Did people get this upset when apple.com had Nelson Mandella on its homepage (and for a lot longer than one day)? They've also payed tribute to Rosa Parks, Gregory Hines, George Harrison and Robin Williams. I don't get what the big deal is.

Nothing more annoying than all the high and mighty telling everyone else who has the right to honor someone and who doesn't. :rolleyes:
 
Did people get this upset when apple.com had Nelson Mandella on its homepage (and for a lot longer than one day)? They've also payed tribute to Rosa Parks, Gregory Hines, George Harrison and Robin Williams. I don't get what the big deal is. :confused:

Probably. People will bitch about anything these days.

Apparently some low level intern taking the time to update a graphic on the home page will delay everyone's precious iOS update or international ApplePay rollout by months.
 
I'd say first and foremost Apple is promoting Apple.

Sure it's a good thing to show tribute to important persons. But isn't it obvious enough to see that this is also just a PR tactic.

OK I'll bite. What exactly is the PR tactic here? I know people here can and will find fault with almost everything Apple does but I'm really struggling to see what the issue is here. Please help me out.
 
Let's dig in to this a little.

Please help me out.

Alright (Because why not).

Whats going on here is a classic case of a "Testimonial Campaign".

In a testimonial you use the social value of a important/famous persona to promote your message. I't is basically an emulation of mouth-to-mouth propaganda because when even the great M.L.King stands for Apple how the heck can somebody say apple products aren't solid?

In a PR agency it works something like this:

You have to do a campaign and for some reason you decide to do a testimonial campaign. This is a very good decision for multiple reasons:

  1. They are very cheap because you don't have to invest too much man-hours for a good concept.
  2. They are easy in execution, because all you have to do is book the person. If the person is already dead it's even easier. (Maybe in the case of M.R.King there could be some foundation, or legacy administration who cares about him. Not sure how this works in the US since im a european whitebread.)
  3. The CEO of Apple is keen of M.R. King. So you will have an easy time to sell this idea to him (Maybe ad's don't go to the highest level for approval at Apple so if another boss is in charge you offer him an opportunity to gain points from the CEO).

Boom. You have your campaign, everybody is happy and you have a solid man-hour/money ratio.

It is really hard to not get involved with such a campaign (As you can see at yourself). Because they are very effective. It's just in the nature of humans to value the opinion (or in that case, simply the face) of great people

Because who is against M.L.King? Only morons who can't see the value of his incredibly important heritage.

But if M.L. King would have liked the iPhone and even give his voice for it. We will never know.

An that is where the problem with this campaign arises. M.R.King is promoting Apple without his approval.

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Apple didn't do anything wrong actually because this is a common campagin. But as a an upright customer it is your duty to be aware of such mechanisms.
 
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OK I'll bite. What exactly is the PR tactic here? I know people here can and will find fault with almost everything Apple does but I'm really struggling to see what the issue is here. Please help me out.

Association. Apple is equivalent to great people.
 
Powerful.

"To the Crazy Ones" ;)

THIS is why the ad campaign for Apple back in the 90's so so critical ...this is why Apple as a company, not just the technical space was and IS so critical.

IT's not simply about making the best products for people, or that they hire and work with the BEST people, nor even have the best interests for the Red_Project and those specific people affected by AIDS ... it's about doing the BEST for People in ANY WAY POSSIBLE!

This ... this alone is why I love Apple. It is more than a technology company for me. Call me lost I don't care.

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Thank you!!!

This will shut that ignoramous up!
 
What do y'all think of Google doodles? There's one of MLK today. They have Google doodles for nearly everything.
 
They brought the first usable, effective personal computers (GUI), smartphones, and tablets to the world. Their respective industries all follow their every move in lockstep. They also changed the music industry and now potentially the mobile payment and home automation industries.

They changed the way people communicate, work, create, and listen to music. In a significant sense they changed the way people in modern societies live their daily lives.

You are wrong on all three counts, but lets not get picky.

Xerox, Blackberry etc. As of the tablet? Really. I was using one long before Apple even thought of the female hygene product.

Step away from the distortion field.
 
Dude, Apple does this often enough to know they can count on MR et al. to whip up page views. They aren't new to the marketing game. They will sink their corporate messaging into whoever their target audience likes. Mandela, Steve Jobs, Budda, King, it's all the same to them.

Right.....and the MLK honor on the front page of Apple's website (coupled with the MR news article) caused you to buy an Apple product right?.......Yeah, I didn't think so. Oh that just destroyed your argument. ;)
 
Some people are seriously overanalyzing the hell out of this. I just simply see it as Apple honoring a man who did a lot of good for humanity. Nothing more, nothing less. Guess that's just me though.
 
You are wrong on all three counts, but lets not get picky.

Xerox, Blackberry etc. As of the tablet? Really. I was using one long before Apple even thought of the female hygene product.

Step away from the distortion field.

Nobody used Xerox's prototype. In comparison to today's smartphone user base, "nobody" used a Blackberry. Nobody used tablets. Apple did make the first effective and widely useful products of these types.
 
You're missing my point entirely. When applying for that job of yours I'm 99.9999% certain you didn't tell them your goal was to make money. You, like anyone else tells a company what they want to hear so you can get the job. You pretend that your best interest is helping to grow the company when it's really about you bringing home a paycheck.
My point was you're judging a company for acknowledging a historical figure when you truly don't know what their motivation was.....or are you just annoyed that the acknowledgement was about a black man, because that's what it really seems as.

Funny ... that is EXACTLY what I've done in the past and instructed to do via interview seminars.

The company I work for now ... which has done MUCH more for me in terms of pay rate, benefits, and growth ... with the same if not more effort, dedication and hours of work I've ever done (I've always given 120% beyond what was expected of me) .. took 3mths to be accepted and 2 interviews.

And during each interview I told them the truth when asked WHY do you want this job? Why should we hire you?!
- "Because I want to have a stable job, no longer a contractor working for every pay check. Because I need to think about my son's future, I want to be able to put him through college at the very least and hopefully for university. My ex and I after many attempts parted ways for Good. He lives with her 2 siblings (1 new) and 4 others not from either of us. It's tough for her to dedicate time for him and I've always been there for him and spend time with him. He's my only child for life and I'd like for him to live with me."

irregardless of the proper sentence structure, my nervousness and breaking squeaks in my voice ... this was dead to the bone completely honest. little did I know EVERYONE that interviewed me valued these traits and were previously contractors working from cheque to cheque and gave 150% of their knowledge and efforts to a job they enjoyed. I forgot to mention that I too enjoyed my profession and plan to continue to grow.

Guess what. Upon hiring I was given $10K/Yr more than originally offered which already was well salivated for and appreciated. Today I'm working my ass off in areas beyond my knowledge, experience or capabilities.

The correlation:

A ministor/pastor had NO IDEA he'd be the reason and voice of an entire race across the country for non-violence and equality along with recognition to other cultures - to be heard around the entire globe. He wasn't trained for this, nor born for it, nor even considered this is ANYTHING with what he learned. He spoke eloquently from the heart and soul and stood up against fear for his life in front of Millions .... MILLIONS to say this.

Today I ... and Apple and many others honor him for what he enabled us to do. Apple is a diverse company and values it's employees along with those of us in the world!

Big things come from small beginnings! Before the dollar there was a purpose.
 
Nobody used Xerox's prototype. In comparison to today's smartphone user base, "nobody" used a Blackberry. Nobody used tablets. Apple did make the first effective and widely useful products of these types.

LMAO ... I hear that last part all the time. Would be funny coming out of Berkley U that the company you'll work for enforces this. Let's see what fleet of cars in 5yrs is managed by their MDM/IoT platform; who knows. Personally I'd prefer iOS I'm done with BB10
 
Some people are seriously overanalyzing the hell out of this. I just simply see it as Apple honoring a man who did a lot of good for humanity. Nothing more, nothing less. Guess that's just me though.

I hear ya. I am not sure why this is an issue for so many people.
 
This is basically what I think about it: Last Week Tonight - Corporations on Twitter.

Apple should stop doing this. This man campaigned for equal rights, Apple make computers. There is zero overlap. It's embarrassing.

It is certainly not a publicity or marketing opportunity. Seriously, did Apple really lose all of their class the day Steve passed?

Apple is one of the top companies. Companies are run by people. Martin Luther King Jr was a person. I see a similarity.

I think it's great when companies do things like this.
 
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