Pranksters Destroy iMacs in Hilarious, Cruel Sociological Experiment
You're walking down the street, chatting with your friends, when you see a guy carrying a huge iMac box. The guy trips, awkwardly, dropping the box and shattering the contents within. How would you react?
In the video above, the pranksters Alex Goyette and Michael Rowland stage that scene repeatedly, not so much for the sociology as for the lulz, tripping and falling and dropping and otherwise "destroying" brand-new iMacs as horrified gawkers look on.
Most of the reactions to the Mac maimings are exactly what you'd expect: some combination of shock, pity, and a desire to help. In a couple of scenes, though, there's an extra and sort of excellent layer of reaction: People call out the fact that it's an iMac, rather than just a standard computer, that's been destroyed. "Nooooo! Not an iMac!" Apple, apparently, has penetrated so deeply into people's consciousness of computing that their instant and visceral reaction to an Apple product being ruined is itself branded. Which is both a win for Apple ... and a win for pranksters who poke fun at it.