Couldn’t help but notice that all of the ads for the new Apple iPad show users reclining while they work with the device. And I wonder what that says about us.
Computer ads show people at their desks. Or if it’s a laptop being promoted, the user is at a café, seated at a table, with the portable and a freshly brewed latte in the picture.
When mobile phones are advertised we see people talking or texting, or checking the Internet while walking quickly to their appointments, or using time wisely during a layover in an airport. People have to sit up straight to play video games. And ads for Wii devices take place in the living room with the participants dancing, throwing a bowling ball or swinging a tennis racket.
But Americans are getting lazier, more interested in comfort. So now, if you follow the iPad ads, we’re doing everything–reading, communicating, shopping, getting entertained–while we slouch.
Apple is just picturing us the way we want to see ourselves. Even when we contemplate working, the self-image involves a beach scene or pastoral setting. And we always have our feet up.
I think the image of someone in a hammock with an iPad, perhaps doing homework, is a revealing portrayal of how we’ve become generally less attentive to our responsibilities. My wife has been a teacher for more than twenty years and has watched the steady decline of student interest and participation. When she first started, a student who missed an assignment would beg forgiveness, have a legitimate excuse and ask for an opportunity to make it up. Now, if people can be so bothered to attend class, they complain that assignments are “too hard” and they insist it’s “not fair” if they’re tested on material that was discussed the day they were home nursing a hangover.
It’s not that I want to criticize Apple or its products. The company is simply catering to our demands that everything has to come easily with a minimum of our effort. We want to relax while working. It’s part of the sense of entitlement that seems to be the general sentiment pretty much throughout urban America.
The Apple Company ads play to this sentiment. They tell us: “Buy an iPad and you too can be entitled.”