TOW #10: iDiots- iPhone Parody

iDiots- iPhone Parody, is a stop motion video of robots who are obsessed with a new phone called the “iDiot.” They message each other on it, watch videos of cute cats, buy pointless apps, and share everything on their social media accounts. They never seem to interact with each other unless it’s with their phones. Then, a giant robot, who we find out later is from the same company as the “iDiot,” goes around destroying all the robots’ phones. The robots become depressed, but then they are filled with joy again when the next generation of the “iDiot” is released. They line up to buy it and the cycle starts all over again. The purpose of this is to satirize the consumer market revolving around the iPhone and metaphors, parody, and irony are employed to do this.

The video contains parody in order to make it clear that it is trying to comment on Apple’s consumerism. It uses a logo that closely represents that of Apple; it is a head with a “bite” being taken out of the head, representing someone who is brainless. The distributors of the iDiots also where lanyards clearly just like the Apple Geniuses at Apple Stores. Even, the name “iDiot” looks like “iPhone” while also spelling out “idiot,” saying that we are idiots for being a part of this system.

The video also employs the metaphor of the robot. They are supposed to represent us as consumers, showing that we are brainless robots who just buy, buy, buy without much thought. We buy things that take over our lives, so much to the fact that always feel the need to upgrade to the best version of iPhones. This use of metaphor is a stab at us as consumers, letting technology dictate our lives, and in a way, make us robots of the system.

Lastly, irony is used, when we find out that the huge robot that goes around destroying the iDiots is from the same company that the iDiot is from. One would not expect the company to want to destroy their own phones, but it shows that they are focused on maximizing profits because they know that consumers will just buy new phones. This is mocking both us for being idiots to fall in this trap as well as the companies who will do anything for more money.

Overall this video is meant to satirize on the consumerism Apple created to rip its customers off and the pure idiocracy (though a bit exaggerated) consumers have to be a part of this system.

The Red Consumers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbmgV7Oyp0w