THX and branding

In his 1971 movie THX 1138, director George Lucas tells us a story about a future society, where no one possesses anything. In one scene, the main character THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) purchases a functionless, red object that looks like a plastic polyhedron, and promptly disposes it when he gets home. Like everybody else in that society, THX 1138 is driven by an unseen force that creates the impulse in him to buy an object he doesn’t need or want.

Comparable in our society, branding is the invisible force that affects today’s consumers’ buying decisions. I was reading an interview with John Maeda today, in which he says “we’ve been brainwashed to believe in the Apple touch through the power of “loving” Apple products”. Ignoring the “touch” pun, what could possibly explain the urge some people have, to upgrade their iPods every 6 months? I am one of those people by the way.

Go ahead and rent THX 1138. It’s an amazing movie, far better than anything else Lucas has done. But more interestingly, at around 8 minutes into the movie, watch closely, and see if you will agree with me in that the store THX visits is an Apple concept store, and that what he buys is the latest iPod, curiously labeled as R9!

A visionary person, this Lucas is.