iCoke, iGoogle, iSick of it
Going to the backwoods in Canada, I had a dandy time catching fish, eating fish, and enjoying existence without many electronic contraptions besides a pay phone and a few local channels on some cable. On the way back while grabbing some food to munch on, I found myself thoroughly frustrated with my soda cup. It had the usual brightly colored flare and graphic creativity of any given ad, but that didn’t stop me from working hard to make the white, clean cut word “iCoke” spontaneously combust.
Granted, Apple’s very recognizable “i” has been seen everywhere. The popular mp3 players that we generalize as iPods are widely used and very popular with the general public. Apple seems to group all the related products using their trademark letter with names like iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and so on. I honestly didn’t care about it when it was just them, but when I start seeing companies like Google and Coke playing copy cat, it gets rather irritating.
If you have a Google account you should already know about the iGoogle image. When logged in and using the search engine page, the graphic is displayed right over the search bar. At first it was amusing, but when it didn’t go away after a day or two, it got a bit aggravating. There was no real connection to be made, no links, no explanation either. I’ve heard that the Google company originally wanted it to stand for “Individualized Google”(hence, iGoogle), but anyone who watches ads, wanders the internet, or deals with Apple at all period, can’t really change the first impression in their heads. Inevitably, even if on accident, it just turns into a screaming ad.
As for the iCoke, it wasn’t even on accident. Though there are no blatant “Buy Apple products!” sort of ads on the website provided (icoke.ca), the name in itself is self explanatory. Whether Apple has the “i” trademarked, or whether they’ve let it go to make popularity grow, the marketing scheme continues to be insanely popular in the mainstream. Quite unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be changing anytime soon. So until then, we go on trying not to make cups explode with our minds.