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Why Apple Users Had An Issue With The U2 Album

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This article is more than 9 years old.

By Irwin Kula and Craig Hatkoff

Has Apple taken us from 1984 to 2014 and back again? In what is considered one of the greatest commercials ever made, Apple Computer introduced the Mac to the world in 1984 during the Super Bowl running an ad that instantaneously changed the image of Apple forever.

The commercial depicts a futuristic Orwellian dystopia controlled by Big Brother being destroyed by a courageous sledge-hammer wielding female runner—a metaphor for the computer that would change the world. Wearing a white tank top emblazoned with the now-iconic Mac, she hurls the sledge-hammer into the giant screen broadcasting a numbing, tyrannical speech celebrating the first anniversary of the “Information Purification Directives.” The hammer-throw shatters the screen releasing us from the bondage of uniformity imposed by Big Brother. Apple’s message was “we will not be controlled!” To defy uniformity, buy a Mac. There was no turning back.

No wonder many people were outraged when Apple decided what music 500 million users should listen to. In what some considered an epic marketing innovation, Apple reportedly paid U2 $100 million for the right to deliver a gift to its 500 million iTunes customers. However, Apple’s intrusion into individuals’ libraries, without their permission, created an intense backlash. So great was the outrage that Bono offered a public apology via Youtube.

Despite many people being upset by this intrusive “marketing gimmick,” the jury is still out as to whether this was a highly successful market launch for Apple and U2. With all the “rage” and media pile-on it seems there has been very little negative impact; the iPhone 6 is flying off the shelves, Apple’s stock price is at an all-time high and U2 not only got handsomely but this will undoubtedly help promote and sell tickets to their concerts—the real engine of profit in their business model.

So what can we learn? In a world where trust is at an all-time low, in which surveillance and invasion of privacy have become the norm—from the NSA to the FaceBookAmazonGoogle complex—suspicion has become our default mode. Our Apple devices are no longer externalities—they have become integral parts of our identities. These two dynamics have changed the conventional wisdom:

  • Giving people something free now raises suspicion; motives will be questioned.
  • People will easily distinguish between a genuine gift and a clever marketing strategy by powerful interests.
  • Putting anything into people’s libraries without their permission will now feel coercive and creepy.
  • “Never ask for permission, ask for forgiveness” does not pertain to iPhones.

If viewed through the lens of conventional disruptive innovation, Apple and U2 appear to have done everything right. The album was certainly “cheaper and more accessible” to the consumer. Apple engineered the largest launch in music history reaching 500 million customers in one fell swoop.

As we have been writing in recent columns and elsewhere, quantum innovation suggests that identity-centric innovations behave quite differently than conventional utilities. Our iPhones and iTunes are no longer simply products, they have become part of our identities. Messing with our identities, as this marketing campaign vividly showed, will enrage some of the people all of the time.