Apple finally joined Instagram this week, and boy is it excited about the big news. So excited, in fact, that it just hadto open up the revolutionary experience to its adoring fans.
The company that forever redefined the cell phone really really really hopes you'll be a part of the wonderful journey that began on August 7, 2017 — instructing followers to tag their Instagram pics with #ShotoniPhone for the chance to get re-grammed by the corporate behemoth into 512 x 512 glory.
And while for some aspiring influencers this may be the biggest game-changer since drone selfies, for the rest of us it presents an uncomfortable truth: Apple is begging us to help make it cool again.
SEE ALSO:Apple's 'Planet of the Apps' totally gets kids are just a speed bump on the road to will.i.amLet's take a step back. Apple has long been, and still is, a powerful cultural force. Above and beyond the numerous ways its products affect our daily lives, for many years the company was synonymous with "hip." Remember those ads plastered everywhere showing silhouettes dancing in front of brightly colored backgrounds, iPods in hand? They're impossible to forgot, and the campaign was practically seared into everyone's brains.
But that was 2003. Fast-forward a few years, and 2007 brought with it the first iPhone. It was a glorious moment, and for many years Apple products stood solidly atop the desirability throne. However, somewhere between the Apple Watch and the Apple Pencil case, things started to change.
Please, please take part.Credit: instagramSure, owning the latest and greatest Apple product was still a cultural signifier, however, what it signified was less cultural cache and more a proclivity toward conspicuous consumption.
Its latest lifestyle ad campaign — which this new Instagram account is — is a further step in this direction. It serves not to leave an indelible Apple-shaped imprint on our imagination, but to draw us away from the specifics of what the company actually manufactures.
Yeah, the generically inspiring photos featured on the Apple Instagram account were all shot on iPhones, but they basically could have been captured with any decent camera (or smartphone). They are certainly fun, and in some cases touching, but there is nothing particularly "Apple" about them.
But maybe completing the transformation away from tech company to lifestyle brand is what this is all about? Because this foray into #gramlife does succeed at one thing: distracting us from the fact that Apple isn't really doing anything interesting these days (sorry HomePod).
Instead, Apple is asking us "to take part" in and fuel its latest quest to regain some cool factor. Honestly, it's a little sad (not even touching on the fact that the world's most valuable brand with billions in cash reserves should be able to, you know, pay photographers in more than exposure).
Apple does have one thing going for its Instagram account, though. Unlike with its Twitter profile, the marketing team behind it hasn't yet panicked and deleted all the posts.
That fact alone, however, shouldn't be enough to convince us to give in and put our creative energy toward pumping up one of the world's largest brands — no matter how desperately it wants us to.
TopicsAppleInstagramiPhone
(责任编辑：百科)
Two states took big steps this week to get rid of the tampon taxWhat film stars really think about Hollywood's diversity issue'Red Dead Redemption 2' confirmed, coming in fall 2017Koala called Wolverine is obsessed with receiving tummy scratches
Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversaryTesla's rumored P100D could make Ludicrous mode even more Ludicrous
A Tesla Model S P100D begs the question: What's more Ludicrous than Ludicrous?Right now, the biggest
...[详细]Women will direct every single episode of 'Jessica Jones' Season 2
It's rare to find a woman in television kicking butt on camera, forget behind it.
。Netflix's 。 Jessica
...[详细]Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln talks Glenn, Episode 702 and Shiva
This interview contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere.The dust has settled from th
...[详细]Netflix is giving up on a major country
Netflix is big, but investors expect it to be huge. 。 A big part of that growth is overseas expansion
...[详细]The U.S. will no longer have the final say on internet domain names
The National Telecommunications Information Admistration (NTIA) announced via 。 blog post
。on Tuesday
...[详细]Blizzard offering $100K to each 'Heroes of the Storm' team just for playing
LOS ANGELES -- Blizzard says it will pay each team competing in one of its Heroes of the Stormtourna
...[详细]Undermined by warm water, Antarctic glacier lost 1,607 feet of ice in under 10 years
A subversive influx of mild, dense salt water is undermining the vast ice shelves of the West Antarc
...[详细]Zoo's newborn baby black rhino will make you feel joy again
Baby rhinos were put on this earth for one reason only: to make humans on the internet smile. 。On Oct
...[详细]This coloring book is here for all your relationship goals
LONDON -- We are living through the golden age of celebrity relationships. Gone are the days of tort
...[详细]Australian politicians are in trouble for using WhatsApp. Here's why.
With a known love for the disappearing message app Wickr, Australian politicians are also keen on th
...[详细]Tourist survives for month in frozen New Zealand wilderness after partner dies
Hillary Clinton delivered these 18 zingers to Donald Trump's face