Day 47
Location 12: Copenhagen
Dec. 17, 2022
Let's cover three things from Copenhagen. Not all (or any) of them are typical sights of the city. In fact, two of the three are not even specific to Copenhagen. In any case, let's explore all three:
1. Apple Sticker
You know when you buy an iPhone or Mac laptop or an iPad and you open the neatly organized box with perfectly sized inlets for the device and cables? You know how you take all that out and there's those two Apple stickers? You know how you look at those and think "what the hell is this for?"
There are 3 potential uses for this sticker:
(1) stick it on your Apple device
(2) stick it on an accessory to show you're of the in-crowd that knows about, or supports, Apple
(3) stick it on a non-Apple device to trick the public into thinking you own an Apple device
Lets investigate the psychology of each of these three potential cases:
iPhones, Macs, and iPads already don the Apple logo. We can eliminate #1.
Apple is not some chic brand, nor does it carry social cache, like Patagonia or Brandless or Honda (only during Happy Hondadays). And stickers on things like reusable metal water bottles is an aesthetic typically reserved for eco-conscious, forward thinking people, so commandeering that method of self-expression to tout the logo of a company infamous for sweat shops seems overwhelmingly dichotomous. We can eliminate use #2.
This one seems unrealistic. Why would anyone take a laptop (e.g. a ThinkPad) and place an Apple logo sticker on it when the form factor is a dead giveaway it's not a Mac. It's just ridiculous. We can elimin––
2. Depressing Napkin
A few years ago, a Delta passenger complained about a napkin with a seemingly dark message. The napkin said "THE WORLD IS BETTER WITH YOU OUT IN IT". Of course, the airline's intended meaning was "when you are out and about in the world–presumably traveling–the world is better". However, on first glance the intended meaning seems to be "the world is better without you" or, more simply, "kill yourself".
Obviously, this was the result of poor wording. A napkin would never have a concretely, unmistakable depressing message. Like, for example, a napkin would never say "Wipe that smile off your face". It's just unreaslist––
3. Reverse Restaurant
If you're a person, you've probably been to a restaurant. And if you've ever been to a restaurant, you've probably seen a chalkboard or a whiteboard displaying the day's specials. Or maybe it was a casual take-out spot and the chalkboard just listed regular menu items, things like "pizza" and "cappuccino" and "we have gluten-free options available".
It would be very odd for a restaurant to instead us chalkboard space to show things they didn't offer. I bet if a restaurant did this, it'd come off as a bit aggressive, combative even. But no need to worry about that, since no restaurant would ever––
