My iPod, My iCon: How and Why Do Images Become Icons? Eric Jenkins This paper engages the cultic following of Apple computer through an examination of their brand image, here represented by the famous iPod silhouette commercial. argue that Apple employs the techniques of the Orthedax icon, constructing a mode of seeing known as symbolical realism. This mode cues the reader to see with their divine eye, ecognizing neither a realistic portrayal of an actual event nor a symbolic representation. Instead, the viewer sees the advertisements as & hypostasis of the immersion in music. This mode of seeing deflects attention from Apple's ideological gain and invites viewer participation in « cult celebrating the immersive experience. In short, the ads construct a visual enthymeme whose missing element is the user. By participating inthe vitual of seing through symbolic realism and thereby completing the enthymeme, the iPod is transformed into my iCon, bestow ing the commodity, and by extension the corporation, with cule value Keywords: Ipod; Icons; Visual Rhetoric; Symbolic Realism; Cult Value fours is the age of the world picture (Heidegger, 1977), its also certainly the age of the global corporation. Corporations fuel the image- age by promulgating brand images in every possible medium. Faced with the scale and concomitant depersonalization of contemporary capitalist conditions, corporations turned to the manufacture of images due to their inherent ideological power-namely, the ability to represent an abstrac tion in conerete garb. At its heart, a corporation is nothing more than an abstraction, a legal fiction of associated employees, factories, stores, mar keting campaigns, and products. Developing a corporate image allows this eMy iPod, My Con: How and Why De images Become Icons? 6 abstraction to appear as reality, as a living being with a particular ethos and character. Apple Computer has been praised in business circles for its innova tive and effective development of its brand image. Apple has continually molded a persona of the “hip” votary of the digital age, best represented by the commercials featuring a computersavvy young man who claims to bbe “Apple” engaged in ducling conversations with the nerdy and uptight “PC” embodiment. Everything from their advertisements to the lifestyle of their famous CEO Steve Jobs to the design of their products intends to convey this image of a hip and dedicated proponent of the digital age. Apple's success at molding this corporate persona is attested by the leagues, of devoted consumers, who not only purchase their products but worship the brand as one would a church or religious figure in an earlier age. Many observers have noted the proliferation of Web sites, user advertisements, and fan clubs devoted to Apple and its products, a devotion so stark that Leander Kahney (2005) pens it The Cult of the Pod. The reference to religion, cults, votaries, worship, and devotion is not accidental. Walter Benjamin (19962) describes capitalism as “a religion ‘of pure cult” (289), Corporations seck to develop consumers with “brand loyalty” devoted to their commodities and beholden to their brand image. If this isthe ease, then Apple has certainly succeeded. This raises the ques: tion: How does a corporation, one obviously committed to the vulgarities of profit and materialism, inspire the devotion ofa cult following? The answer is related to Apple's corporate image but demands more examina- tion. Of course, corporations turned to images because of their ability to naturalize the ideological. Yet while viewers respect images for the ability ‘to make concrete certain depictions, they also recognize in this power dangerous ideological consequences. It does not take long, especially in a capitalist economy bent on separating suckers and their money, to sce that images mislead and misrepresent as well. Behind the seemingly natural images hides the interests and systems of power. This simultaneous respect, for and fear of images is a perennial human condition, marked historically by recurring bouts of iconoclasm, People appreciate the naturalizing power ‘of images but fear the ideological implications of their transcendent mes- sages, We value the concreteness of imagery but fret over the ideological abstractions they either portray or coverp. When the mask is exposed, people often respond violently, against images and their makers alike. How, then, does Apple craft an image which deflects the skepticism of wily consumers inured to the ways of corporate imagemakers?o Saigacios In this paper, langue that Apple employs the visual form of the icon to address this cultural atmosphere of iconoclasm. The participatory and rite alistic nature of iconic form helps inspire a cult following. The icon con- structs a mode of seeing known as symbolical realism, somewhere between. the concrete naturalism of a portrait and the abstract representations of a symbol. Through symbolical realism, the icon portrays a hypostasis—a concrete representation of a spiritual quality. The iconic hypostasis helps avoid charges of heresy and propaganda by naturalizing depictions of the transcendent, neither reducing the spiritual to the material nor arbitrarily ‘connecting the concrete and the abstract. By balancing the spiritual and the material, the abstract and the concrete, the icon allows image-makers to tap into the reverence for images while deflecting the fears of their ideological implications. To develop this argument, I proceed in three sections. First, | outline the two notions of icons prevalent in vi as culturally potent imagery, and the second defines icons as signifiers that resemble their signified. I contend that while each notion contributes significantly to the understanding of icons, the particular visual tech- niques deserve further clarification. To achieve this clarification, I explore criticism. The first sees icons the history of Byzantine iconoclasm in the second section. Here, I further develop the argument that icons address the simultaneous fear and respect for images by portraying a hypostasis of a spiritual quality. Armed with this historical understanding of icons, I turn to Apple's iPod silhouette commercials. [illustrate how these advertisements employ the mode of symbolical realism to portray a hypostasis of the immersion in music. The hypostasis allows Apple to argue that they are dedicated to the spiritual ‘experience of immersion in music transforming them from detached rmegacorporation committed to materialism and profit to the hip votary of the digital age. I conclude by illustrating how the icon inspires a cult following by celebrating a divine experience and encouraging audience participation in the rituals and mores of that experience. Only when the iPod becomes my iCon does the cult emerge. “ICON” IN VISUAL CRITICISM A brief review of the concept “icon” in visual eriticism should help to illus: trate the mode of symbolic realism by contrasting it with two other modes of seeing-the symbolic and the realistic. Although the definitions vary, isolate two primary interpretations based on these two contrasting modesMy iPod, My Con: How and Why De images Become Icons? ca ‘of seeing, First, scholars, such as art historian Erwin Panofsky (1955) and. rhetorical critics Dana Cloud (2004), Catherine Palczewski (2005), Les- ter Olson (1987), and Hariman and Lucaites (2002, 2003, 2007) often deploy “icon” to mean a culturally potent image.! The term “icon” is rarely defined in this scholarship but is frequently equated with a significant and historically meaningful image. For instance, Hariman and Lucaites (2002) define icons as “widely recognized” and “reproduced” images depicting “historically significant events” and activating "strong emotional response” (p. 366) ‘This first interpretation of icons contributes significantly to visual criticism. The focus on cultural impact directs the critic to the cireula- tion of images. 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