Cultural Symbols Depicted in Apple's Television Commercial, Entitled "Bean Counter"

When one tries to appeal to another, they must communicate in terms the other party understands or identifies with. In the context of advertising, this concept is crucial to maximize the allure of the product sold. Since marketers have a limited amount time in the span of a televised commercial, they must rely on shortcuts to convey their message quickly and efficiently. These shortcuts are in the form of stereotypes and common associations that allow the audience to understand the idea being portrayed. As stereotypes are illustrated on a massive scale, they reinforce our view on what is typical of certain traits and characteristics, regenerating the method relied upon. In the commercial, “Bean Counter”, produced by Apple, a number of traits are presented that have cultural significance in how they are widely perceived.

The commercial takes place in front of a blank white background with simple piano and xylophone music throughout its entire duration. In the foreground are two characters, a man sits at a simple metal desk while the other stands off to the side. On the desk there are three stacks of money, one large pile that is meant to portray advertising, the medium pile the man draws from and a small pile which represents the amount of money Microsoft spends on fixing it’s operating system. The man in the desk wears a white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up and a dark blue vest over it, black slacks, dress shoes, a green money-counting visor and a red “power tie.” He is middle-aged and overweight wearing glasses. The other character looks to be in his mid-twenties. This character wears a tight blue long sleeve shirt, tight jeans and sneakers. He has relatively long hair and is stands relaxed. The older man sits on the ...

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...al artist. The commercial’s plot illustrates a familiar allegory that has been repeated throughout history, the contention of good versus evil. As the PC is budgeting, favoring advertising heavily over fixing his operating system, he is declared as the villain. As the Mac suggests that the miniscule amount toward helping his customers isn’t enough, he is showing sympathy for the PC audience, and humility, positive values in American society, and is declared the protagonist . When the PC subsequently moves all of the money into the advertising pile he further reinforces the corrupt businessman stereotype.

The cultural symbols are displayed in this commercial to allow the audience to understand the message being conveyed in a short period of time. In this example the message was a demonizing allegory that represented a competitor with reputedly negative qualities .