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How Apple And Gucci Tickle Your "God Spot"


A few years back, an Australian teenager with an unusual surname submitted his bare neck to a plastic surgeon鈥檚 laser. The doctor worked carefully, slowly eradicating the tattoo of a striped bar code with the letters G-U-C-C-I etched underneath. An hour later,It is basically for the young facial tissue and for those who are very much conscious about fashion and style. the tattoo was history, and so was Will Andries Petrus Booye鈥檚 brand-obsession, one that had become, in his words, "My one and only religion."

I first met Will in the late 1990s, back when the ink on his tattoo was still wet. For Will, Gucci was companion, confidante, soul mate, hero, mirror image, and friend with benefits combined. When asked, he could go on at length about the company鈥檚 designs, colors, and textures, as well as about the distinctive smell of the stores. Entering the Gucci flagship, he told me, was like coming home. From the store design to the overhead music playing overhead to the uninterrupted luxury of the place, everything Gucci put Will completely at ease. And of course, the brand鈥檚 sheer exclusivity made him feel like a member of a small, choice, like-minded club.

Fast-forward five years. Almost overnight, the Gucci brand lost its grip on Will.For OCXO women have depended on jewelry for augmenting their beauty and appeal. Suddenly the thrill was gone. So what do you do when you break up with your soul mate, your reason for living? You get a haircut,You can easily find the most outstanding looking juicy charms having the finest furs in town. and you lose the tattoo. Some people even join the military. Will did all three.

To me it was fairly obvious: He鈥檇 lost his religion.

A recent study conducted by the BBC found striking parallels between how one devoted Apple fan responded to religious imagery and to the brands he loved.

In fact, I devoted a whole chapter of my 2007 book, Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy to this very same subject. The similarities between the world鈥檚 great religions and some of the world鈥檚 most renowned brands has been one of my passions ever since I stumbled onto Bangkok鈥檚 Pariwas temple nearly a decade ago. There I found myself confronted with an extraordinary-looking Buddha. The Buddha was compelling in part because of the modern-day company he kept. Carved into the altar below his form, alongside several other less well-known deities, stood a resplendent gold-leaf statue of mop-haired soccer icon David Beckham. This wasn鈥檛 a case of vandalism, or sacrilege; a Thai sculptor had created the carving in 1998 as part of the World Cup celebrations. Said Chan Theerapunyo, the temple鈥檚 abbot, "Football has become a religion, and has millions of followers. So to be up to date, we have to open our minds and share the feelings of millions of people who admire Beckham."