Neurological Study Finds Apple Fans Are Religious Zealots After All   - 873 Views, 1 Comment

According to Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, “It turned out that brand iconography activated the same region in the brains of fans that was activated in the brains of Christians when they were exposed to faith-related triggers.”

Lindstrom talks in his book about Mark, an Apple fan who flew all the way from California to Sydney, Australia (a 17 hour flight), and who then stood in line for 48 hours, to attend the opening of an Apple store. His payoff? A t-shirt.

Apple, says Lindstrom - intentionally or otherwise - has followed the same formula for building a strong following as do the major world religions, each of which share most or all of the following: a clear vision, a sense of belonging, an enemy, sensory appeal, story telling, grandeur, evangelism, symbols, and rituals.

Take symbols, for example. While most brands’ products cannot be recognized without their logos, points out Lindstrom, “Examine an iPod, and you’ll have problems finding the Apple logo. Yet its design is so in tune with the brand’s identity and so unambiguously original that you know an iPod when you see and feel it.”

In fact, Apple surely has nearly all of these elements. And so, like the major world religions, the following builds as acolytes (or, in this case, Applelytes) evangelize. “Word-of-mouth is powerful, trusted and cheap,” says Lindstrom.

So, the next time you are talking with someone who gets a rapt look on their face, while your eyes glaze over, as they extoll the virtues of their latest Apple product*, rather than meeting them with derision, consider that they may need an intervention.

(*In the spirit of full disclosure, The Internet Patrol is a completely Mac shop and counts itself as among the Apple faithful.)