Cult of Apple: Why the must-have brand triggers brain reaction 'similar to religious devotion'

 

 

By Jane Bunce

 

Last updated at 10:04 PM on 20th May 2011

 

 

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Fans of Apple products are known for their extreme devotion to the technology brand.

 

But a new TV programme suggests that this desire for iPods and iPads can occasionally border on the religious.

An MRI scan of an Apple fanatic's brain has found the same part lit up as a believer's did when they gazed upon religious imagery.

 

 

 

Rejoice: Apple employees cheer as the iPad 2 goes on sale. Fans of the brand have an obsession bordering on the religious. Right, Moses (portrayed by Charlton Heston) holds aloft a tablet of a different kind

 

 

 

Journalist Alex Riley carried out the test for the BBC documentary Secrets Of The Superbrands, during which he also attended the opening of Apple's Covent Garden store.

He likened the scene to 'an evangelical prayer meeting', as staff hysterically cheered hundreds of delirious customers flooding the store, many of whom had slept outside overnight or travelled from other countries despite their being no free products or discounts on offer.

 

 

To understand their fervour, he commissioned a team of neuroscientists with an MRI scanner to look inside the brain of one such fan.

 

'The results suggested that Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith,' he said.

During the programme, Riley also spoke to the Bishop of Buckingham, who reinforced his claims.

 

The bishop explained that Apple stores contain a lot of religious imagery, such as stone floors, altar-like product stands and arched windows.

 

Journalist Alex Riley carried out the test for the BBC documentary Secrets Of The Superbrands, during which he also attended the opening of Apple's Covent Garden store (above)

intriguing

..Juxtapose this with the old Apple TV ad showing a sledge hammer wielding runner dashing down the isle of a packed theater where Orwellian images are being show to a mesmerized audience; that runner then tossing the sledge' into the big screen to break the spell and awaken the audience!

So the mold-breaker becomes the mold now? Yes, quite interesting! I still like Apple though, but yes, that's not a good development. The church of Apple? Yikes, what's next?!:stunned:

Thanks, very interesting indeed. Epic Win for the fisrt two pictures

You know what, I do quite like an Apple product,I've always prefered their computers to Windows based ones, but am fine using either, I find this kind of brand devotion more than a little odd though.

ugghhh apple. i mean they're cool but the cultness and raised prices of average computers just sucks. I would love to have a mac but I can get a better HP laptop for half the price. :(

It is interesting to read. Though I agree with eddie that the prices are ridiculously high. However I've had my iMac for almost 5 years and haven't had one issue with it at all which is great!

ugghhh apple. i mean they're cool but the cultness and raised prices of average computers just sucks. I would love to have a mac but I can get a better HP laptop for half the price. :(

 

But your mac will last twice as long... if not more.

yes but i'm not rich

 

i will get a mac...sometime in the distant future