Comments on: What is the meaning of a 1997 Wired magazine cover.

Question: What is the meaning of a 1997 Wired magazine cover.

crazyray — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:16:28 -0800

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?

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:22:27 -0800

This might help you understand the Wired cover.

By: evil holiday magic

evil holiday magic — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:24:02 -0800

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.

By: holgate

holgate — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:24:03 -0800

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.)

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:32:11 -0800

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.

By: crazyray

crazyray — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:40:33 -0800

Great answers, everyone.... after reading the article, I suppose the barbed wire is supposed to signify that their own policies had caged them in (?)

By: luriete

luriete — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:51:51 -0800

It's also a reference to the popular crown of thorns / heart of the virgin imagery, I think.

By: attercoppe

attercoppe — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:56:35 -0800

C'mon now, nobody got the reference? Check out this picture and think of the phrase "the cult of Apple."

By: attercoppe

attercoppe — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:57:23 -0800

Crap, luriete just beat me. But I linked to a picture!

By: klarck

klarck — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:01:57 -0800

Religious imagery by way of the Sacred Heart.

By: klarck

klarck — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:02:58 -0800

On preview^2. Darn.

By: Miko

Miko — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:28:28 -0800

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.

By: flod

flod — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:32:51 -0800

That's Cindy Crawford, actually.

By: Miko

Miko — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:33:11 -0800

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.

By: alms

alms — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:35:14 -0800

That magazine article linked by selfnoise is a hilarious read from the vantage of 2005. How times do change.

By: Miko

Miko — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:37:09 -0800

Flod was faster.

I went on a tangent and rediscovered Spy, too. Those were great days.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 21:19:03 -0800

'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.

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 22:30:51 -0800

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"?

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:48:11 -0800

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.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:50:36 -0800

Also it was college fashion, so it was breaking racist assumptions of intellectual as well as physical inferiority.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 04:48:22 -0800

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.