What Your iPhone Says About Your iPolitics
Fark.com recently posted an illustration comparing the presidential candidates to each other via their gadgets and perceived internet browsers of choice. According to the clever folks at Fark, Obama is a Firefox, iPhone kind of guy, whereas McCain relies more on maps and carrier pigeons. Joe Biden is tech-savy, but not too edgy, using Internet Explorer and the dependable Blackberry. Sarah Palin? Well she uses a plastic toy phone. You get the idea. Equating the candidates to technological brands demonstrates not only the growing power of brands, but according to an unpublished study by Project Implicit, the image reflects a bi-partisan leaning towards different technology brands. Psychologist Brian Nosek, with Project Implicit, contends that liberals tend to be pro-Apple whereas conservatives are pro-Windows. Any Mac ad might make this all seem obvious. Still, Fark takes these descriptions to the next level, introducing brand loyalty into our assumptions about the candidates and opening up a debate about what your choice-of-brand says about your personal political leanings. Below Lucas Conley discusses obsessive branding in the U.S.
