Apple’s Airpods Go From Mockery to Status Symbol
https://www.wsj.com/articles/do-airpods-make-you-look-rich-these-millennials-think-so-11550591284
After Apple’s Airpods launched in 2016, the tech industry mocked the unconventional look of the wireless earbuds. However, they have become a revolutionary technological product in the wireless earphones market since then. The wireless bluetooth earbuds can seamlessly pair with any Apple device in a matter of seconds that make listening to music, phone calls, videos, etc. a convenience in everyday life. Not only is the product unique in the market and has Apple’s famous name slapped on it, it has turned into a cultural phenomenon, ripe for meme-fication. Its $159 price sits right in the sweet spot: just expensive enough to impress, but cheap enough that young, digitally savvy people can actually buy them. The Wall Street Journal article describes that young people consider luxury items differently now compared to years before. As technology continues to advance, people are more likely going to show off the things that they use everyday, such as their headphones and phones.
As well, the surge in popularity of Airpods is credited to social media, where people have the freedom to post memes about how poor people can’t afford to wear Airpods, for example. The following-the-crowd trend is exhibited here: as more people discover that Airpods serve as a symbol for wealth through social media or seeing students at their school wear them, more people are inclined to buy them in order to send the message that they can indeed afford them and are following the trend. Airpods are not even the best product in the market; Bose’s headphones or Beats’ “Powerbeats” may have better sound quality. As the article pointed out, Apple’s Airpods have become “the most conspicuous form of consumerist flexing” and a fashion statement rather than for its product quality because consumers are following others based on what is considered a symbol for wealth, fashion, and popularity.