How fitting is it that the creators of ‘iPod Culture’ are using desire to sell the iMac?

I have often maintained that Apple’s great coup was not simply creating functional, well-designed products. Rather, it was the fetishization of those products that was key – that when you purchase an iPod you do not buy it simply to play music, but you buy it to be part of a broader cultural movement. While the extent to which Apple themselves propagated iPod-mania is unclear, there are obviously upsides and downsides to this trend. The upshot is that the digital music revolution happened far more quickly with the iPod at its centre, giving people access to more and more diverse music, quickly and easily.

But the fetishization of the iPod, the transformation of the iPod from a piece of technology to an object of desire has its darker side too: namely the way in which the desire for the iPod speaks to the impossibility of an outside to consumer capitalism. There is only the desire for the new and the trendy, and we all spend most of our time trying to keep up. I’m not trying to blame the iPod for the ills of the world; rather, the iPod’s position in our culture is sympotmatic of broader trends that have negative consequences, ranging from increased depression to environmental wastage.

So I can’t say I was at all surprised at Apple’s new slogan for the iMac: ‘You Can’t Be Too Thin. Or Too Powerful”. I mean, it’s perfect in so many ways. The reasons, I think, are clear: staying thin and seeking success are never-ending processes. There is no break, no let-up – only a stream of exercise, diet, networking and work. So Apple, harbingers of the recent trend of techno-fetishism, have created the perfect phrase for their own products: a never-ending stream of desire that you must constantly work to fill – and hopefully that work and that desire will be reflected in your choice of computer.

How many people do you know who have replaced their iPods because their old one felt outdated? Or switched to a Macbook because it just looks and feels so much cooler than a Thinkpad or a Dell? The fetishization of technology is becoming increasingly connected to the commodification of everything – from blogs to women’s bodies. So, in a weird way, I don’t think I even object to the new slogan: it perfectly captures the increasing overlap of desire and technology. Now I’m just interested to see if the outrage will be limited to the usual places, or if a broader reaction will ensue.