eyeSmoke

guest post by Al Shaw

One of the post popular pieces of viral marketing on YouTube comes from the "Will it Blend" series. The newest installment from a podunk Utah blender company features an annihilated iPhone which eventually turns into "iSmoke."

What's most interesting about it is the pain and shock the visual experience elicits from most bloggers and commenters.  David Pogue, Apple's number one fanboy recoils from the fact that someone would dare to drop the "JesusPhone" in a blender. Some commenters loved the piece, a vast majority found it almost sacrilegious, but the common theme is the visceral reaction it inspires.  One of Pogue's comments, for example, reads, "I got sick in my mouth..."

The non-stop media coverage of this device has raised it to a new standard, even compared to the typical zealotry Mac users have for Apple products.  A Google search for "iPhone unboxing" yields almost 2 million hits--all related to the visual indulgence of the "product opening ritual."

Given people's love/hate relationship with technology, it is tempting to compare this video with the famous scene from the movie Office Space where three disgruntled office workers take their anger out on a printer.  I'm guessing most people watching this clip would be rooting them on, not recoiling in horror.

For a product that has become the ultimate possession, the "Will It Blend" stunt has become the most sadistic act of destruction.  In comparison, people can watch scenes of destruction and trauma in Iraq and almost never bat an eye.

"Will It Blend" video here.  (LINK CORRECTED.)

(screen shot: Blendtec via YouTube)

Comments

[Rebecca M]

It is the toxicity of the concoction that makes me cringe, personally.

[john]

The link is not to the iPhone blending video (which is hilarious, by the way). It's the scene in office space where they smash the printer. The real video is here:

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone

[Betsy]

Those of us over 60 don't give a damn.

[The BAG]

Sorry, link corrected.

[Chris]

Does Dan Aykroyd get a residual every time this type of stunt is done?

After his introduction of the Bass-O-Matic during the first season of SNL, any attempt to "blend" an inappropriate object, for entertainment value, is redundant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Op3OPItH0

[Megan]

"I got sick in my mouth" is a variant on "I threw up a little in my mouth" which is a widespread and trite cliche. I'm sure people suffered all sorts of pain from watching an iPhone blend, but that phrase just shows lack of imagination on the commenter's part, not his physical condition.

[Marquis De Sade]

Bad idea. This will lead to insurgents using blenders for _______________ (fill in the blank.)

[Asta]

First this, then what's next? Wanton destruction of Mechas at Friday Night Flesh Fairs by anti-robot activists?

[karen]

oh yeah.

Why did I enjoy that so much?

[ice weasel]

It never ceases to amaze how far some folks will bend over backwards trying to maintain their objectivity while finding any reason at all to smack at Apple or mac partisans.

Oh well.

Though I have to admit, bringing Iraq into it was truly horrible. Nice job.

And, though I've never seen the movie, I think I have seen the scene in question and wasn't it a fax machine that suffered in Office Space? Or was that another movie?

[readytoblowagasket]

In comparison, people can watch scenes of destruction and trauma in Iraq and almost never bat an eye.

Care to substantiate that? Or, like President Bush, does simply saying it's so make it so?

[Napalm Dog]

The thing you are failing to catch in this post, sadly, is also people's positive fervor to this destruction. I can guarantee many who posted "Yay! Destroy the iPhone!" couldn't imagine a phone without a camera, text messaging or countless other features. Are they cheering because it's a silly, too-many-functioned device or is it because it's Apple and they take refuge in some other company's church?

We are all subjected to marketing, both good and bad. Microsoft sold several copies of Windows 95 to people who had no idea what it was. Apple has always had good advertising, even innovating it as much as any product they've released. The trick is not allowing product preference to be equal to, say, your stance on gun control or abortion.

If owning, say, a Ford or Chevy is as important as anything like this to you, seek professional help.

[mcc]

"JesusPhone"?

[14All]

It was a copy machine in Office Space.