It's not news that Apple is likened to a cult. Even other popular brands such as Samsung and famous people, particularly Bono, mock the Cupertino brand.
Some people don't know why Apple is likened to a religious sect, but they are probably a part of it without even knowing it. These individuals make up Apple's built-in fan base, and they are the reason why the company is as strong as ever in injecting its doctrines, says a cultural historian.
"They feel iconic, like an emblem of the personal. And yet it's a cult. Right? It's so obviously a cult," says Erica Robles-Anderson, assistant professor of media, culture and communication at New York University, in an interview with Atlas Obscura.
The epidemic even caused British neuroscientists to analyze Apple devotees, concluding that the fans have similar brains to religious followers.
Getting back to Bono, he went to the Cannes Advertising Festival to gain support for his AIDS-fighting non-profit brand Red. Apple is one of Red's largest supporters, raising about $75 million for the brand. All seems good, right? Wrong. Bono is apparently annoyed at Apple for not being loud enough about its contribution.
"Where's the (Red) branding?" he asked Jony Ive. "Nobody can see that. This is modesty run amok. This is the Apple way. They're like a religious cult."
The design of the Apple stores is not helping. Robles-Anderson says the huge doors, including the steep stairs and skylights, make the place seem important and that the entire store is designed to make itself seem from a different world where customers feel small. Apple Geniuses are not helping either, acting like priests minus the robes and prayers, she says.
Apple has also created a cycle in which it will never be understaffed. Longtime Apple fans look at selling Apple products as a great opportunity to get paid for supporting the "religion" they are devoted to. New employees go through a sort of religious ritual. They are greeted with an ovation and are told that they "enrich" people's lives, instilling a grand sense of purpose in them.
With such a sense of purpose, money becomes almost meaningless to them, making them content with low wages and lack of opportunities for career growth. Apple salesmen have frantic lives with little or no reward for their efforts, which cools down their original motivation.
Apple has devised its own language in a way. Apple staff members are required to take a survey, which is called a NetPromoter for Our People. They are asked to rate how likely they are to recommend an Apple job to friends and family on a scale from 1 to 10. Seems pretty normal so far, but Apple takes it to a cultish level. The company sorts the surveys by rating, calling 9 and above promoters and 7 and below detractors.
Photo: Jeremy Piehler | Flickr
