why people choose mac products and what it might have to do with Jesus

So I have this friend who loves to banter with me about the mac vs. pc debate. I do own an ibook, and also use a macbook at work, and I do have an iPod nano. But I'm not especially zealous when it comes to the whole Mac thing - I just like them.

Well, anyway, be that as it may, one of things my friend likes to do is point me to articles and facts that describe how Apple products are inferior and overpriced compared to the competition, and yet people buy them anyway. He loves doing this. In the latest the journalist is busy bashing the iPhone, iPod Touch and Nano, even while he's on Apple's website ordering a Touch! His reasoning, "My friend Dave says it's because Apple designs products while other companies engineer them."

I think there is something too this. I think there is something too this. Apple gets that lots of people are into holistic thinking and that it is possible to have an artistry to a product. But I think there is more to it.

People like the guy who wrote the article, and his friend Dave, forget the human element in really effective marketing. Apple has good marketing, but my humble opinion is that it is effective primarily because of very happy users who enthusiastically tell non-users that they've got to get an Apple. I think it is the same with Starbucks. A friend, who's in the know, told me that Starbucks never does advertisting in a market until they've already established themselves. When they've got store presence and a host of loyal customers who've already been telling their friends, then they start the advertising. That way it is most effective - they're not convincing, they're informing and branding.

And this is where I move in the direction of something like a point. Apple users are loyal, they're enthusiastic. Actually, in their own ways, they are evangelists. They're sharing good news about a product that is easy to use and that rarely crashes, and is cool too. But I think this is where it gets really interesting. It really isn't that long ago that Apple was considered junk in the computer world, and that people who were serious computer users made fun of Apple users. I mean, really, that was definitely less than a generation ago. Apple brands, and Apple users, still carry this feeling of being in the persecuted minority. People who buy Macs and iPods have this sense that they're identifying with, buying into, a revolution. That they're joining common cause with this persecuted minority. I think people like this. People want this.

If only we can help people understand Jesus in the same way. Help people join up with a cause not only worth buying, but also worth living and dying for. Maybe it doesn't happen because Jesus isn't seen as being part of a persecuted minority, isn't seen as part of a revolution. The Church can be bad PR for Jesus, unfortunately. Yet those who follow Jesus are a minority, even in America, and they aren't always applauded. And we are part of a revolution (see Acts 17:7). It is interesting in this regard, that when Apple ran that slate of very cool and provocative "Think Different" ad campaigns several years ago, I don't think Jesus ever made the cut. Though he is the ultimate different thinker.