[ Retro Scan of the Week ] African American Apple Fans
February 4th, 2013 by Benj Edwards
One big happy family — and a PowerBook (click to see entire ad)
It’s Black History Month once again in the US, so I thought it would be timely to share this Apple PowerBook advertisement from 1992.
The ad appeared in the February issue of Smithsonian Magazine; I don’t think it is a coincidence that it prominently featured people of African descent. It also prominently featured the PowerBook 100, which had just been introduced a few months prior in October 1991.
The obvious racial focus of this ad brings to my mind a couple of interesting, if racially-charged questions: What percentage of black Americans, historically, have used Apple products versus other computer brands? Do African Americans, like other demographic groups, have their computer or tech brands of choice?
Today, Apple is such a mainstream company that the answer to the first question is most certainly larger than it likely was in the pre-iPod era. It would be interesting from a cultural standpoint to peek back into private demographic customer studies that Apple no doubt commissioned at various points in its history.
As for an answer to the second question, I have no idea. But I would love to hear from African American computer users to find out.
Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite PowerBook model?
