Apple's Spirituality

Apple's use of spirituality in its advertising and in its approach to business is unlike that of any other technology company. It starts with Apple's own Genesis...

Text: David Kuo
Photos: Peter Irby

A Simple Logo

Apple's spirituality began with its simple logo--the apple with the bite (or byte) out of it. While Apple's first proposed logo was a sketch of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, it didn't last long. Instead there was the apple from the Garden--the lust for knowledge not as a sin but as a virtue. To solidify the point, Steve Jobs actually sold the first Apple computer for $666.66. Christians consider the number 666 to be the "mark of the beast" symbolizing the anti-christ.

Apple's Naked Spirituality

Apple didn't hide its naked spirituality. "What in the name of Adam do people do with their Apple computers?" the ad asked. The answer? Everything. Apple was the first computer company to make inroads with the masses and this ad, which invited people to submit essays on their computers, rewarded the winner with the "closest we could come to paradise."

1984

In 1984, to herald the coming Macintosh computers, Apple aired a 60-second commercial that proved to be one of the most famous ads of all time. It showed a beautiful woman running through a dark, Orwellian world carrying a sledgehammer that she ultimately hurled at Big Brother. While Big Brother in this instance represented computer giant IBM, it was another example of the anti-authoritarian independence of Apple spirituality.

The Third Eye

Apple's spirituality wasn't Judeo-Christian. It borrowed heavily from Eastern religions here paying homage to the Hindu and Buddhist "third eye" that symbolizes enlightenment. For Apple it was never about simply computing or producing, it was about the way and the spirit in which those things occurred.

The Desert Years

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Steve Jobs had been exiled from Apple computer. He sold all but a single share of stock. The company started tanking as its spirituality was replaced by the very corporate feel Apple had once rebelled against.

Newton

The company continued to create, even introducing the world's first PDA. But Newton tanked and so did the company's reputation. By the late 1990s, the consensus was the Apple would "never be anything but a break-even company" at best. Jobs returned from exile in 1997.

Gandhi and Apple

Jobs' return came with a spiritual fury. A new ad campaign entitled "Think Different" was implemented and it was the most nakedly spiritual of all Apple's endeavors. It prominently featured Gandhi, much to the chagrin of many Hindus who said that there were many things Gandhi stood for--but peddling computers wasn't one of them.

The Return of Apple

As the Think Different campaign progressed, Apple's comeback began in earnest. John and Yoko's images were used as were scores of other notable living and not-so-living figures including Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon, R. Buckminster Fuller, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson(with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright, and Pablo Picasso.

Apple vs. Conservatism

In the last couple of years Apple's principal ad campaign has featured "the Mac guy" and the other guy. The other guy is stodgy and simple and nerdy and the perfect representation not only of Microsoft but of traditional conservatism in general. While not as overtly spiritual as some of the other campaigns, the same spiritual undertone exists today as it did in the late 1970s.

"Good" Friday?

This coming Friday, what Apple certainly hopes will be a good Friday, Steve Jobs will release his next revolutionary device, the iPhone. What will it bring? Who will buy it? Will he ascend to heavenly heights or be cast down? No one knows, but what we do know is this--Apple's spirituality will be there every step of the way.

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