Fanboyism and Brand Loyalty

[ScottW]

The Misconception: You prefer the things you own over the things you don’t because you made rational choices when we bought them.

The Truth: You prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.

The Internet changed the way people argue.

Check any comment system, forum or message board and you will find fanboys going at it, debating why their chosen product is better than the other guy’s.

In modern consumer cultures like America, people compete for status through comparing their taste in products. (You can read more on how that works here: Selling Out).

Mac vs. PC, PS3 vs. XBox 360, iPhone vs. Android – it goes on and on.

Usually, these arguments are between men, because men will defend their ego no matter how slight the insult. These are also usually about geeky things that cost lots of money, because these battles take place on the Internet where tech-savvy people get rowdy, and the more expensive a purchase, the greater the loyalty to it.

Read More of the above: You Are Not So Smart

This is a great insight into our world and perhaps, the "higher cost" of Apple products is what created Apple Fanboys, and why you rarely see a Dell Fanboy.

You do see Microsoft Fanboys, but when you think about the high cost of Exchange Servers, Microsoft Server OS, and the cost and time involved in using any operating system (Mac or Windows or other), time and money is invested into it, even if that OS didn't cost a lot or anything itself.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

So... it's not "justification first, purchase later," it's "purchase first, then justify later."

I tend to agree highly with that in terms of how most people operate.

 

[Doctor X]

From Cooley's blog.

Got me thinking . . . it being the 40th Anniversary of The Godfather one of my favorite characters was Fredo played by one of my favorite actors--who died far too young. Now I do not like GF-II as much, I love his performance in it, especially in this scene.

This is how people react to being shown The Truth [Tm.--Ed.] about something: like why they bought a computer or why they support a particular religion/politics/sports team/long-distance phone carrier.

It is comforting and they prefer not to think about it. They are "use" to it. Confront them with it, and they complain like Fredo--you are implying they are "stupid."

Though, like Fredo, reality always sets in . . . though one should hope it occurs to most of us before we take a fishing trip with Al Neri. . . .

--J.D.

 

[Satcomer]

The only problem I have is when a fanboy goes to a dedicated site (i.e. macosX.com) and try to be a fanboy. To me these kinds of people that do stuff like that (Some Mac users do it to on other message boards not related to a Mac) are really nasty people in real life.

 

[Doctor X]

Well, to take it seriously for a moment, they are living through something other than themselves. They are the types who think YOU suck because YOU live in a city that THEIR--"WE"--team just beat in a game.

--J.D.

 

[macleuser]

As a former fanboy, of Apple in particular, I experienced, even before the Internet was a big place for this kind of blind brand loyalty (yes, often post purchase), debates in person where the computer of choice (mac or pc) was basically passed down by some other patriarch. A father, a step-dad, an uncle, big brother, etc. who was 'into' or 'worked in' or with/around a certain platform had simply indoctrinated the person whom with I was discussing the topic. Some people like to buy expensive cars and cheap computers, some people the other way around.

Some last remnants of fanboyism died in me when Apple switched to the intel platform: 1) felt this as betrayal to essentially adopt the (inferior at the time (i.e. longer pipeline, slower front side bus, etc.) HW of the competing HW/SW platform (ignoring AMD) 2) felt this as a ripoff that after they said they would continue to support PPC's (G5's at least, being 64 bit HW) and then promplty released a 17'' MBP with a 32-bit processor that is now terminal (can't use 10.7) due to that HW limitation.

All naivete replaced with the inarguable truth of the matter: these companies just want your money, it's your job to use what best suits YOU, and yes, no matter what you pick, you're getting a raw deal when measured with any number of yard sticks (your own, the industry, the time of purchase (ie. day before new models come out, etc.), the millions of people with their lines of reasoning on the internet.

I just stick with apple b/c it's the lesser evil at this point, kinda like how I vote in politics, not like my Cthulhu bumper sticker says "Why settle for the lesser evil?"

Despite my experience, or rather the personal experiences of others, I'm sure some people "stick with" their "preferred brand" and arguments even after they receive a lemon, and have to go through hell to get it fixed. However, I find plenty of people on discussions.apple(.com) that say "this was my first experience with an apple computer, and I am very disappointed." or similar. And, good for them! That's the way I buy most electronics, I rotate brands with failures. Unfortunately it's a little difficult to do with computer platform like Apple. I can buy Samsung when my Crucial memory fails, or OWC when Newertech fails, or housebrand CFcards when Sandisk Customer Service becomes hell... but I just don't feel like spending the time for another DIY hackintosh, espc. an AMD one!

If only more people were willing to humble themselves and admit they got ripped off or made a poor choice in supporting some huge corporation that pushes out product seemingly w/o QA or testing then possibly these companies wouldn't get away with scraping over such a low bar it's near the ground. That, I believe is the real detriment to society in the issue, it makes the rich richer. Just another illustration that people would rather smile after shooting themselves in the foot than ask for assistance. Pride.

 

[Giaguara]

I felt the same way, macleuser, when they switched to Intel processors.
Since the Macs are way more common... and, well, Apple dropped the computer from its name and turned to all new products too, Apple TVs, iPhones, iPads... it's not the same. Somehow.
I'm not as passionate as I used to be.

But by seeing what works and what doesn't... could teach something.

If Apple still made just the computers they made (a long time ago), they wouldn't be where they are. There would be no market for iPad apps in business or education, there would be no iBooks or iTunes store... a bunch of things would not be there.

Then look at the companies who do just what they are or were good with. Like Nokia. Well, they used to do other things too (like rubber boots, car tires, TVs...). They decided that the mobile phone is the thing they want to do, and they kept doing that. Their TV business was going on for quite a while too, but they didn't understand why people wanted to buy flat panel TVs, so I suspect they closed down the factories where they made their TVs. Now with the phones they seem to think it's like Windows and PCs - if someone has ever used a computer (a peecee), they will just keep buying another computer of the same kind, sticking always to a pc with Windows. So there is no need to advertise or market the product. Surely, there are still people who buy Nokias... but if they rely on people's picking a new Nokia just because they've always been Nokia users, no wonder no one cares to try a new one, and even the old Nokia fanboys from the 1990s have probably moved on to try the other platforms since the '90s.
I'm just amazed by seeing their bad management and marketing decisions go on year after year (while their empire seems to steadily shrink).

Sometimes the hype and the fanboyism turns against the product too. E.g. I ended up killing my g+ profile after using g+ for a while, when all it seemed to be was hype and fanboy talk.

 

[macleuser]

Definitely agree with you Giaguara. Lol, I the Nokia phone I had before I finally switched to iPhone (last year no less) was my favorite phone, and part of it was the reliability and I had known in the late 90's about ~. And sure enough, the phone delivered, until the charging port broke... doh, but it was a model of phone that totally flopped in the market, I picked it out in a different color for my mom when she needed to upgrade (hers finally died a month ago, mine failed over a year ago why I gave in to iPhone). SAR ~<half of iPhone4. And, yeah, I surely agree with you that fanboyism turns against the company/product at some point. When it's time to grow, you must do it, regardless! Of course you want to choose which direction(s) to grow in, and moving to intel has afforded MANY advantages and caused a whole Niche of gamers/Creative Pros to be able to use the platforms of choice to boot into Mac OS for work and into windows for play.

Because again, if you support ANY change (good or bad) then you are still just as useless a fanboy, just as blindly loyal, and guess what, the changes weren't for you! So no thinking person cares what your opinion is! (Except Nokia).