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Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

Song bashing “corporate enablers” used to move iPhones

The Submarines' song "You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie" has become ubiquitous …

Ah, to have been a fly on the meeting in which Apple marketing execs picked The Submarines' song "You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie" as the main theme for their iPhone ads! The catchy song was a stroke of marketing genius (and one imagines that it worked out pretty well for The Submarines, too), but a closer look at the song's lyrics makes it a surprising choice for the iPhone campaign. Why's that? It's an anti-consumerism anthem.

Plastic bottles
Imported water
Cars we drive wherever we want to
Clothes we buy, it's sweatshop labor
Drugs from corporate enablers
We're not living the "good life"
Unless we're fighting the good fight

So says the song, and it's clear that "fighting the good fight" involves turning our backs on most of the things listed above. What do we need instead? Well, as The Beatles knew, all you need is love.

Love can free us from all excess
From our deepest debts
Cause when our hearts are full we need much less

But Apple's entire iPhone campaign—indeed, the company's entire product line—is predicated on consumerism, the purchase of expensive technology, owning the trendiest gadgets, and creating a sense of need in people who never knew their lives were incomplete without a glossy black phone. As with most companies, Apple stands to lose big if people truly "need much less" and turn their backs on US consumption patterns.

It's a truly odd pairing of image and lyrics, which is no doubt part of the reason that the lyrics are not, in fact, in any of the commercials. (This is unlike older Apple ads featuring Feist and Chairlift.)

Steve Jobs is widely reputed to have Buddhist leanings; how the man pairs "nonattachment" with "running Apple" is a mystery we may never plumb. The song may resonate with a Jobsian "billionaire's detachment" from the material world that binds us to a cycle of suffering, but it stands in stark counterpoint to the product it's being used to sell.

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