“Mapple” Lampoons the Cupertino Faithful on The Simpsons
Apple fans found their beloved company satirized Simpsons-style last night. The latest installment of the Fox cartoon featured a “Mapple” store in the beginning of the episode, a tech store where hip, young t-shirted employees take brand loyalty very seriously and display an inordinate amount of devotion to their bespectacled leader. Sound familiar?
The Mapple Store bears an uncanny resemblance to the 5th Avenue Apple Store, with the exception of being in Springfield’s Mall and not New York City. Lisa is amazed at the MyPods, MyPhones, and the Braniac Bar, where smug customer service representatives deal with Comic Book Guy’s complaints about the latest Mapple OS. Homer is intrigued by the dream-fueled, imagination-powered MyCube, whose function isn’t entirely clear, and which glows to show you that it’s not on.
The brief Mapple segment manages to deal pretty harshly with the Apple faithful, positioning the company’s customers as a slavish bunch who’re willing to go to any lengths to support and defend their favorite fruit-logoed institution. The Mapple store clientele quickly gathers to hear the words of their precious leader, Chief Imaginative Officer Steve Mobs, when it’s announced that he has an amazing surprise to unveil. Bart intervenes here, using the store’s P.A. system to alter the C.I.O’s message. According to Bart-as-Mobs, each Myphone costs $8 to make and is sold for $500, and the false rivalry between Microsoft and Apple is just a clever ruse to encourage adamant, lucrative partisan fanboy-ism.
I haven’t gone into explicit detail, since I think it’s worth checking out for yourselves. Of course, since it’s The Simpsons, things are exaggerated for the sake of humor, but there’s definitely a kernel of truth underlying all that cynicism. I had a special, “guilty-as-charged” moment when Mapple customers simultaneously opened their wallets at the mere mention by Mobs of a “life-changing” announcement. If I catch so much as a whiff of a new Apple product, I get out the budget and start making some room.
BMWTwisty on December 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am
Hmmm, Eric Savitz and Mr. DeWitt must have been contributing scriptwriters
Levi Figueira on December 1st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
The funny thing is I bet the screenwriters and probably most of the animators are using Macs! And maybe that’s why they made this satire: because I don’t think any Mac user will be offended! It’s a satire and it’s funny! Sometimes we blindly spend money on Apple stuff… At the end of the day, we’re all happy of what we bought but what triggered the initial purchase was a mere brand-identification impulse!
I recognize that on myself, but I don’t “blindly” buy but it’s almost as if I did! So this is seriously funny :D
Levi Figueira on December 1st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
And that was a horribly written comment… Sorry about that!
Multi-task writing stuff = not good! :p
Hope you all “get the idea” though… :)
Fabio Romeo on December 1st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
My only question is: Why took it so long, Matt? :D
Jack on December 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
A good free resource that I wanna share with you guys
http://www.ovpedia.com/watch_the_simpsons_online.php
edhardy on December 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
GOOD STUFF
watch the simpsons online on April 25th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Grrrr We cant watch this in the UK
Hulu needs to exapnd