What is the meaning of a 1997 Wired magazine cover.

October 29, 2005 6:16 PM

I am curious about the meaning of an image listed as one of the Top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years . Specifically, what was the meaning behind magazine cover #37, which is a Wired from June 1997 with an Apple Computer logo wrapped in what appears to be barbed wire, along with the word "Pray." What does the barbed wire signify? Why are we being told to "pray." ?

Also, while we are on the topic.... As a bonus, does anyone recall the context of number 22 from the same site?

posted by crazyray to society & culture (20 answers total)

This might help you understand the Wired cover.
posted by selfnoise at 6:22 PM on October 29, 2005 [1 favorite]

Apple was declared doomed by various magazines and pundits that year, so I assume the message was to pray for (or against?) Apple. I think TIME ran a black cover for their "Apple is dead" schtick.

It's also the year Steve Jobs returned. Kind of a turning point.
posted by evil holiday magic at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2005

In 1997, Apple's advertising campaign was based around one-word slogans: for instance, 'Create.' Apple was also sucking badly. Wired spoofed the campaign for this article, offering advice on how to revive its fortunes.

(It's interesting, in hindsight, to see which of the 101 tips were followed. 'Admit it. You're out of the hardware game' was not.)
posted by holgate at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2005 [1 favorite]

BTW: If you're referring to the issue of "George" magazine with your second question, there's a mention of the content of that article here.
posted by selfnoise at 6:32 PM on October 29, 2005

Great answers, everyone.... after reading the article, I suppose the barbed wire is supposed to signify that their own policies had caged them in (?)
posted by crazyray at 6:40 PM on October 29, 2005

It's also a reference to the popular crown of thorns / heart of the virgin imagery, I think.
posted by luriete at 6:51 PM on October 29, 2005

C'mon now, nobody got the reference? Check out this picture and think of the phrase "the cult of Apple."
posted by attercoppe at 6:56 PM on October 29, 2005

Crap, luriete just beat me. But I linked to a picture!
posted by attercoppe at 6:57 PM on October 29, 2005

Religious imagery by way of the Sacred Heart.
posted by klarck at 7:01 PM on October 29, 2005

On preview^2. Darn.
posted by klarck at 7:02 PM on October 29, 2005

On George magazine, #22, that's Madonna posing as GW. I remember it excited some attention at the time because of the cross-dressing. BUt everything she was doing at the time excited attention.
posted by Miko at 7:28 PM on October 29, 2005

That's Cindy Crawford, actually.
posted by flod at 7:32 PM on October 29, 2005

OOh wait, I'm so, so wrong. It's Cindy Crawford, and it's their first cover. Madonna did do a cover for them, but this ain't it. Sorry.
posted by Miko at 7:33 PM on October 29, 2005

That magazine article linked by selfnoise is a hilarious read from the vantage of 2005. How times do change.
posted by alms at 7:35 PM on October 29, 2005

Flod was faster.

I went on a tangent and rediscovered Spy, too. Those were great days.
posted by Miko at 7:37 PM on October 29, 2005

'Admit it. You're out of the hardware game' was not.

It was actually. Wired said they should "Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely". Apple used to have their own factories. Most if not all of their production is now done in China and Taiwan.
posted by cillit bang at 9:19 PM on October 29, 2005

I don't think having computers made in China and Taiwan, as opposed to the USA, is what Wired meant by "get out of the hardware game". I still have to buy apple-branded hardware in order to run apple operating systems. Where would Apple computers have been made if they'd "scrapped it completely"?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:30 PM on October 29, 2005

Specifically, what was the meaning behind magazine cover #37

Black woman on the cover of a magazine predicated on celebrating female beauty during the time of the Civil Rights Movement was a progressive step in eliminating the pervasive and enforced myth of white superiority.
posted by dgaicun at 12:48 AM on October 30, 2005

Also it was college fashion, so it was breaking racist assumptions of intellectual as well as physical inferiority.
posted by dgaicun at 12:50 AM on October 30, 2005

Er, they outsourced their hardware production, exactly as Wired suggested. Apple computers are made by huge companies like Quanta, who also make everyone else's computers.
posted by cillit bang at 4:48 AM on October 30, 2005