Most advertisers play on the psychological phenomenon of association/disassociation. An example of association/disassociation might be displayed in a comment like: “The trailblazers lost last night” when my team loses, and “We won last night” when my team wins. I disassociate from what I perceive as losing and associate with what I perceive as winning. I explain why I think we do this in Searching for God Know’s What, relating it all back to what really happened at the fall of man. But right now I want to address how we have all been duped by this phenomenon as it is used in Apple advertisements.
Advertisers carefully position their products next to people who carry social commodity. Often, this is sexual, but it can also be wealth, power, humor and wit (which in ways are all sexual, too). Advertisers, then, are associating their products with our biochemical desire to reproduce and carry on our lines, and also with a relational insecurity we all have regarding redemption. Usually, this is subtle, an attractive man or woman using a certain dish detergent or driving a certain car is seen touting a products significance.
Sexual fertility manifests itself in women in high cheek bones and a 70% waist-to-hip ratio, and in men through a chiseled jaw and broad shoulders. Usually, what we find immediately attractive in the opposite sex is actually our reproductive system wanting our line to survive.
And last years Apple campaign came just came right out and said it:
If you use Apple computers, you are more likely to get laid.
Essentially, the campaign stated if you are young, cool and smooth, you will use Apple products, and if you are fat, old and geeky, you will use IBM.
Here is a good example of the familiar ad:
What amazes me about these ads is that they appealed to and “worked” on an audience many people perceived as cynical about this sort of manipulation. Apple, having been a minority share-holder in the market branded themselves as aloof outsiders, swimming upstream in a culture of conformists. But in all reality, those of us who have fallen for this campaign are the worst offenders. I would even argue the use of Apple products, to some degree, mark us as the most insecure about our identities.
Apple products are defended with near-religious zest. But in our zest are we defending a company or our own identites? Perhaps what we’ve been offered is a brand to associate ourselves with, a brand that triggers our survival instincts, revealing we don’t believe we have enough to survive without this association? Perhaps the use of Apple products reveals insecurity more than it reveals confidence.
Consider Microsoft’s counter ads, which expose the stereotype being created by Apple, focussing on the use of a computer as a tool to do good in the world:
While the ad was true, I doubt it will do much to counter the sexual/social instincts Apple plays upon.
It could be argued that Apple has better product, but I don’t think this is true. There is plenty of superior product that has not taken off the way Apple product has. I think they have great products, and they are user-friendly to be sure, but this can hardly explain the explosion in sales and market share. Without good, user-friendly product, the ads wouldn’t carry the company, I know. It’s the combination of the two that is making Apple a successful company.
But my question isn’t so much about Apple as it is about us. In a culture where we are made to feel socially inferior if we don’t use certain brands or products, what does a true counter-culture look like?
If you think about it, the most confident of counter-culture heros aren’t talking on i-phones, wearing designer jeans or jumping in the air in their facebook photos (why are all the hipsters suddenly jumping in their facebook photos? Why didn’t anybody call me to say we were doing that?) but instead are the people most of us might not notice. The reason we don’t notice these people is because they offer us no beneficial association. They buy products because the products work, they buy jeans because they cover their asses, and coats because a certain coat will keep them warm. A true counter culture is not manipulated by the whims of fashion and therefore is not made up of fashionable people.
I’ve used Apple computers for about fifteen years now. If I had bought Apple stock with all the money I’ve spent buying Apple products, I’d own a lot of Apple Stock (it took me twenty minutes to give up on that line) and to be honest, I’ve been influenced by the commercials without even knowing it. Using a Mac has made me feel cool over the last few years.
It’s true most of my cool friends use Apple Computers. In fact, I think all of my cool friends use Apple Computers. All my friends in rock bands have I-phones. All the girls I know with high cheek bones have I-phones too. They don’t call me with them, but I’ve seen them talking on I-phones to my friends in rock bands. Maybe Apple products do help with fertility. I guess that’s a nature/nurture question. Or maybe all my cool friends are secretly fat losers on the inside. Who knows.
But the reality is, even though I use Apple products, I am not cool. I never have been. I don’t have a chiseled jaw or broad shoulders. I am the same approximate height and weight as the PC guy in the Apple ad, (not the bloated version, although I used to be) and I’m probably a couple years older than him.
Don’t feel sorry for me. It hurt to realize these things at the time, but the truth is I’m probably happier now than I’ve ever been. I don’t exactly know why, except I’m older and part of me has just given up on the game. It feels good to quit. The world will go on with or without me, and I don’t want to miss another sunset worrying about it.
That said, the reason I wrote all this was to ask you hipsters a question:
Would it be okay if I continued using Apple products? I don’t know how to use Windows.
And also, can somebody photoshop me jumping for my facebook photo? I don’t jump. I don’t much see the use of jumping.
P.S. I am about to get bombarded with a bunch of “apple is a superior brand with superior product” which I’ll have to talk about for a second.
this was not a bash of apple product. it was a bash on advertising. and on sin nature. that said, without the advertising strategy, the product would have never been sold, and the development dollars never earned. so we are all buying these products because of the advertising. i think the quality of the product is exceptional, but the two go hand in hand.
P.S.S. Reader Dave Stevens offers this: Thanks Dave!
I’d agree that the campaign has bordered on shameful for a while now, but as a developer I can honestly say that my Mac is by far the best tool for my job. I can’t imagine paying over a thousand dollars for software like Visual Studio to try and get my work done when a $39 text editor for Mac will do, fighting to get Rubygems to compile and beating Capistrano into submission to work on Windows.
So, totally with you on the campaign. But I don’t buy Mac because of the ads. I buy them for productivity.
Scott, I hear you, and I think many people will chime in. I will go back and add to the blog entry the fact that, without the ads, you wouldn’t even have the productive tools to buy. And so, the truth is, you buy them because of the ads. They wouldn’t be available otherwise.
[...] { February 5, 2009 @ 11:40 pm } · { Uncategorized } { } I thought you’d enjoy Donald Miller’s latest blog posting here. [...]
I use a mac, and i can honestly say i know i’m not cool enough to use it. I’m totally ok with not being cool enough. In fact, i say look at my computer that is WAY to SEXY for me.
nice!
i can’t jump either.
you don’t need to fit in with everyone else’s jumping photos.
i haven’t seen them myself, but maybe they’re just showing off that they can jump?
Don,
Sorry, but this felt ridiculous. I’m a film editor and director. I also do a lot of graphic design. I work on both macs and PC’s everyday (My workstation is a mac, my Home Theater PC is…a PC). I can say, without a single hesitation, that my mac dwarfs my PC in just about everything, minus expandability.
Just like Scott A. said above, the ads aren’t exactly virtuous, sure. But please don’t start judging the products by the advertisements. My mac works. It works fantastic. It does what I need it to do and in the world of productivity and usefullness, the Mac is king. Sorry, but it’s just true. Most of it has to do with Mac OS X as an operating system versus Windows OS, but I didn’t see you get into any of that technical speak here, so I think your comment about Apple not being a better product seems moot.
i think worse than convincing people that macs are sexy, they’ve convinced people that macs are better than pcs and worth paying three times as much for. this is especially true with artists and musicians. 20 years ago it was true that apples were better for art and music, but in this century you can buy a better pc for half the price, and get all the same software. i grew up using apples and switched to pcs because of cost, and can honesty say that both systems have an equal share of problems and benefits. if anything, i’ve had more problems with macs crashing and dying than pcs.
Ok, so, PC users are the slovenly masses… apple users are the ultra cool hipsters…
i run linux
Matty
I guess I am not as cool as I thought I was. I’m going to scrape the fancy sticker off my car now. I’m not sure what to do about my tattoo though.
To be honest, it freaks me out how good Apple are at doing exactly what you describe above. I went along to the opening of the first Apple Store here in Melbourne, and it struck me just how many of the people there (pretty much to get a free t-shirt and some apple-nerd credibility), looked like me. I actually think that a huge chunk of their market is the “aspirational cool people” – the people who just want to be that little bit cooler.
I really like my iPod Touch, and I like using my (wife’s) MacBook, and most of that is to do with how the product actually works. But I have no doubt that somewhere in there I’m banking on Apple to throw a little bit of cool my way.
So this is what you were thinking about during your 15 minutes of clarity this morning?
Okay. Deep breath. It was me! Been using apple computers since I was twelve and just typing that made me feel superior. I don’t have an iPhone yet so I ignore calls when I’m with my iFriends so they won’t see me free slider phone. Sometimes I pull out my 2003 G4 powerbook on airplanes just so the light of the screen will illuminate my hoody-covered rawkstah smug. Wow, that was cleansing. Thanx Don.
Glancing at the last two posts and finding something of refreshing comparison:
“Of course it has some of the vocabulary of religion in it, but if you can get passed that, I think this piece is the story of what it means to be human.”
“…the truth is I’m probably happier now than I’ve ever been. I don’t exactly know why, except I’m older and part of me has just given up on the game.”
I think polluted religion could be likened to the games of advertising, advancement and indulgence, robbing us from the freedom of being human, and happily overwhelmed by the miracle of a sunset. I suppose the fallen paradox is that part of us will remain in the game on this side of heaven, but another part is starting to believe there’s always a sideline inviting our rest, and often a better view – where states like listening, waiting and watching beckon our play.
Thanks for writing, Don. Your words are always a gift.
Don,
Thanks. I should have mentioned that I really am a fat loser on the inside, though…that part is sadly true. Sorry
Valid point. But like Scott, I’m a web developer and I find myself far more productive using a Mac. Though they do have a deceptive marketing scheme, at least we’re not being conned into buying crap.
What a great post! I could not agree more. I always thought it was funny that so many Apple users think they’re part of some hip counterculture. I just thought they got sucked in by a good marketing campaign that made them think there was something rebellious about owning a Mac.
I use Windows because I like it and it works for me. I don’t think my operating system has anything to do with my social identity.
I’ve been amazed by how well the branding of Mac has worked over the past few years. Surely some of the best marketing there has ever been. I’m not against Macs – they’re fine computers and as good but different than PCs. Mac is still best for running protools in a recording studio, video editing, and a handful of other tasks, I get that. I don’t get, however, the way everyday users that could easily use a Mac or PC interchangeably become so zealous for Macs. It’s not just about getting laid either, people talk about the “intangible feeling of creativity” that’s apparently, tangibly, worth hundreds of dollars. I just don’t know.
Shamwow,
mike
The idea of the sexual nature and manipulation of advertisements is something that has perplexed me for years. When I see a commercial that I don’t agree with, I often find myself arguing with the television every time it comes on. The thing that gets me is that there is no room for people who are even average-looking in advertisements. No matter what the product, the actors portrayed always fit into a tidy little category: good-looking, white teeth, not fat. As if those are the only kinds of people that exist in the world. No wonder our perceptions of self-image are skewed! I think you hit on this exact idea with your lifeboat analogy in Searching for God Knows What. We clamor to associate ourselves with the good-looking, the skinny, the fashionable, when really, there is no punishment if we don’t.
My question is, are they to blame for selling us this ridiculous idea, or are we to blame for buying it?
Thanks, now I totally feel like a poser by purchasing my first iPhone last night. (It is fun, though.) However, my jeans still cover my ass.
I’ve been much cooler since switching to Macs almost 4 years ago now.
(Right? Please tell me I’m right…)
Don, Don, Don….
Aren’t marketing schemes a bitch when they try to identify us. It’s all a gimmick. What I’m amazed about is when companies kill for a chance to promote on Time Square. Advertising, that’s what it’s all about, and yes- our society buys into the cool image (some subconsciously). Is one far superior to the other? Who cares. Everyone’s opinion fend for themselves. And this is coming from a PC user (who get’s so distraught over her stupid Vista program, which came with my computer that I love) who has debated over and over again about going MAC and getting an iPhone. If your an artist you own a MAC. If your an engineer you own a PC. There is a truth to the compatibility of each one offering something to a special user. As Scott proved.
I have a MacBook, and I’m not cool either. I’m just a dork with a cool computer.
It’s funny how much we’re influenced by the world without even knowing it. It wasn’t the Mac Vs. PC ads that got me to get a MacBook–it was seeing my blogging peers and people on YouTube use MacBooks. I like my MacBook, don’t get me wrong. I’m just now realizing how much the outside world still influences me.
I think you’re cool, though.
What is a waste vs. hip ratio? is it how much waste one produced in accordance to the size of their hips?
I have heard of waist to hip ratio though.
It could be either because a know a lot of large hipped gals that produce all kinds of waste.
Yes, it is okay for you to still use a Mac. It’s all you know. But maybe you’d like PC, since you don’t really know how to operate it.
Is it okay to make apple pie? (or, more historically correct, orange juice?) The serpent is what convinced Eve to take the apple/orange. Kind of like Mac ads convince people to buy Macs.
Whatever compels you to buy a product, may it be it’s usefulness.
i use a pc because you get way more for your money, which is not abundant in my life. but if i had money, i’d be all over a mac. i’m insecure like that. and i honestly don’t love using a pc, it’s quite frustrating at times.
also, bears eat fish cold from the stream.
I work for Apple, and couldn’t agree with you more. If the Apple stores weren’t so aesthetically pleasing, I highly doubt they would be the highest grossing stores in almost every mall they are found. Apple products are amazing, and I have loved every one of them I have owned, but I have to agree that the ideal Matthew in my head is the one buying the product, not the real me, who doesn’t put any value on possessions.
Excellent thoughts, Don. I’ve used Apple computers for several years now and there is a silly superiority complex that goes along with being a Mac owner. I believe the ads do nothing but enforce that. With that said, I couldn’t imagine using a Windows machine for creative work… But then again if everyone else in the world used Macs it wouldn’t be “cool” anymore and we’d have to find another brand to attach to.
As I was reading this I couldn’t help but think of the Gates vs. Jobs cartoon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO8l-Bd1O4).
My “computer” of choice (except when reading blogs like this at the public library on their uncool computers) is a No. 2 pencil coupled with a composition book. It is both uncool and hipster at the same time. Imagine…
i use GNU/Linux.
but that’s becuase i’m a sysadmin (at least, that’s how i make my scratch. i’m much more, i suppose)- i like having that amount of control over my machine, and have it completely open to my geekery (whether it’s fixing something when it goes wrong, tweaking it to make it better and to better suit my tastes/workflow, or just plain learning about what makes it tick).
plus, you can’t beat free.
same reason why i’d never be a scientologist, even if it weren’t full of silliness- you should never have to pay to have faith, just as you shouldn’t pay to be able to use the computer you already bought.
(baruch Hashem the gospel is free, just as it should be! you oughtn’t need to pay for good news, or truth for that matter).
essentially, all this to say that i think apple’s been pulling a fast one on the general public for a bit of time now, and they’ve really gotten just as bad as, if not worse than, microsoft. which is a weird thing for me as a GNU/Linux user to say, but i try to keep objective about it.
it’s really a beautiful thing that you can admit all this to yourself, and to us.
walk in peace!
Oh yes, advertising is evil, and the people who create ads spend their days thinking up ways to rip off the public. The Apple campaign is an example of people wringing their hands and laughing devious, wicked laughs. I know that’s not what you were saying, but some of it is implied. Your thoughts are shared by many others, too. That’s why I’d like to offer a counterpoint about advertising.
Yes, at its essence it’s an industry dedicated to keeping products and industries moving. Horrible amount of ads have been created that have played on people’s insecurities and fears. The world of Mad Men existed, and it still does in some ways and places.
But it’s not quite as calculating as you might believe. Honestly, many creative teams are not that organized and would really rather make ads that win awards than sell products. They want to emotionally connect with their audience. They want to make something artful. The cliché about advertising creatives being frustrated artists and writers isn’t far off the mark.
The strategy of the Apple campaign may have been to personify its computers, but I am positive that the art directors, writers and creative directors responsible for the spots aren’t actually trying to make people feel like they are flawed and will feel less so if they buy an Apple. They want to make themselves laugh and impress their friends by making them laugh. Then there’s the satisfaction of hearing complete strangers laugh at what they created. I’m not saying these are great motivations, but they’re certainly not sinister.
I know this because I’m a copywriter and have been for a while now. I know what it’s like to sit with an art director in a coffee shop or slump on an office couch for long stretches of time trying to come up with an idea people will think is entertaining and engaging. Of course we have to adhere to a strategy that will make our account staff and our clients happy, because want to keep getting paid for being creative. Yet we mainly want to make something you’ll like. WE are the insecure bunch; not the people in our audience.
I’m completely uncool and use Apple too. It works they way I need it to, better than a PC for some tasks.
I have a PC too. It works for what I need it to do better than a Mac for some tasks.
Donald, I appreciate the honesty in this blog, even the word ‘blog’ could actually be an entirely new blog in itself related to advertising and society jumping on another fad.
I agree that the mac image that has been portrayed has helped immensley in the sales of the product. Being a mac user, i can understand (after one gets past the advertising) why the company is still succeeding. I believe that quality is more sustainable than advertising.
What I do struggle with is the idea of self-control. Has society lost it? have we lost the ability to make rational decisions no based upon pressure from our environment around us? are we too far in? too far consumed with consumption?
double thumbs up don…great insight…i got three friends that are brothers, two are hardcore macs and the other is hardcore pc…it’s funny watching them go in circles fighting (physically not verbally(that was sarcastic, but wouldn’t it be funny to see)) about which is better. oh branding, your sting is ever present.
I love this post. So very much.
I’m a Mac user for five years now. But I know better than to assume that it makes me cool. No, what makes ME cool are my emo glasses and Converse shoes. Everyone knows that. Oh, and stickers.
-John
Don,
Excellent blog/post, best one I’ve read in awhile (especially that part about sin nature). And I am sure you’ll have no problem “converting.” At the University I go to, all the professors recieve new apple laptops (free of course aka at the expense of me the studnt) every three years. I found it commical when a good friend/professor, originally from Poland, had downloaded and was using a program that allowed Windows to function on a Mac. Just a humurous note. Cheers.
I think I’m going to come back and comment when I have more time, but I just wanted to say:
I have a mac. and now I feel like a huge jerk. ha!
I must say that while I love using my mac, I have encountered more problems with it than I would have liked, including losing an entire summer’s worth of photo’s and journal entries after a bike trip I took. I backed up the harddrive before I left, but not really with the intent on it croaking a day before I got home. I was really annoyed when the apple guys simply gave me a new harddrive without asking me if I wanted to shovel them buckets of money to try to save my silly photos, which, for the record, I didn’t.
but I must say that it has treated me better than my old pc did. it died twice in 6 months!
I guess I ended up in a win-loss position; win because my mac hasn’t died more than my other comp, and loss because I did, in fact, buy it for the sole reason of it looking cooler than other computers.
I bought my MacBook because right after my laptop and iPod were stolen, Apple had a deal for teachers that included discounts on the computer and warranty as well as a free iPod and printer. I’m a sucker for a company that does nice things for teachers. I am also neither jumping in my Facebook photo nor cool enough to have friends who are cool enough to be jumping in their photos.
I liked this because I am a big fan of apple, but i heard about apple before they had advertising on tv. Therefore, I am too cool for school, blah blah blah blah blah.
The idea of advertising playing on our sinful nature is very true and something that I have noticed for a while, since I do some advertising as a job.
Are you (Don) going to be in Indianapolis anytime. I feel like a dork saying this, but I have read all of your books and would like to meet you, or see you talk somewhere.
I’m a PC. Okay, I’m not but I use a PC.
thanks for the post… i read this just after saying to myself while folding clothes, “self, you NEED a new shirt…” thats not true. i need no new shirt. i have many shirts that work.
again, thanks for the thoughts.
Good post, as an Apple product junkie I too agree with you. I was at one point convinced it was the best, now I like it because I find it easy to use and familiar, but am somewhat dismayed by the image that’s being portrayed with it as you’ve pointed out.
You should read up on Jean Kilbourne. She’s done TONS of research on advertising and she made me see the outrageous messages that advertising sends us. You may think you’ve got a good grasp on it, (I did), but there’s even more that you probably haven’t seen yet. All that to say, I think you’d like her stuff. The End.
P.S. I’m typing this on a mac. I bought it because I thought it was cool. Now I can never go back because I just plain like it better. Oops….
mike brings up a good point. i’m a multimedia producer and would have tons of use for a mac, i just can’t afford one. i can get all the memory, storage, and whatever else i need with a pc for a third of the price. i don’t understand why the casual user would spend three times as much for a mac, however, for what can be accomplished on a pc. when it comes to production, sure mac builds a better system and the software needed is more geared toward it. but if you’re just managing your “digital lifestyle” with it, browsing the web, organizing photos and music, editing home videos, etc., then a pc is just fine. i think don points out the motivation behind the mainstream popularity of mac very well here.
I learned a long time ago that I’ll never be the chic lady with a sleek macbook sitting at the corner table, nibbling daintily on a macaroon while I sip my coffee. No, I invariably spill my coffee or get crumbs on my shirt, despite what the ads claim.
Anyway, I don’t know if this is what you’re getting at, but how are we to survive in a world that uses sex to advertise everything from toilet paper to baked beans? If we’re going to stop buying stuff from companies that pander to our lusts, how now shall we LIVE?
The way it is now, I can’t shop without feeling guilty about the destitute child that labored all day for nothing to manufacture the goods, the environmentally threatening packaging that encases it, the poor employee benefits, the unfair blah blah blah…and so much other crap I almost drown in the knowing of it all. I’m tired. I just want to live in peace.
Obviously, the answer to it all escapes me.
Is it just me, or do most of the comments here seem to not be getting the blog. Apple is just the example used to point out how people consume materials, mainly the ones appealing to sexual nature, to to beef up their esteem. Point well taken.
Don – It’s so sad, yet so true; especially for myself. I started using Mac before it exploded with coolness, but the coolness did help me feel satisfied with myself. And it didn’t end there. I would wear American Apparel clothing (notorious for sex appeal) and strive to keep up a hipster motif. Why? Simply because I don’t feel secure in my looks as a man. My jaw-line is weak, my bone structure can be easily compared to pencils, my shoulders are as wide as my 7-year-old niece, and–despite working out–noticeable muscles do not exist on my body.
So as singleness constantly looms over my head, my insecurities set in when my more masculine looking friends enjoy nights out with their loves. And though now it’s a battle between being trendy and having what you need, who wouldn’t want to give themselves something that makes them look appealing–even if it is from a temporary human perspective?
[World's Longest Comment Below]
Don, you make a good point here. I agree that we are quick to associate with things that make us feel like we’re cooler than we are. Apple has made a name for itself by selling “cool” better than everyone else, but I also think it’s fair to note that “everyone else” with a product or service to sell has certainly been trying to target those same insecurities since the beginning of advertising.
I’ve been an Apple user for 20 years, I don’t think I initially chose that path because it made me marginally less uncool. (It would take more than a computer to accomplish this.) Early on it was all about ease-of-use. (Plus, beige has never been my favorite color.) I’ve had little reason to diverge from my brand loyalty since then, simply because I’ve been happy with their products.
All that said, I find myself feeling strangely uncomfortable these days when I walk into a coffee shop and unpack the previous generation MacBook Air I bought from Amazon a few months back (yes, I’m rationalizing my expenditure – probably proving the opposite of my point). The reason for my social discomfort is related to just what you’re saying above. I fear others will be judging me as someone who is desperately In Search of Cool. Apparently I’m compensating for some deficit. (Does this mean I have to buy a Corvette, too? Or wait…a Prius?)
Of course these curiously judgmental onlookers would be essentially right: I am in search of cool (or perhaps the more culturally acceptable “significance”). It’s just that my search doesn’t happen to have anything to do with the computer I use. (See how brilliantly I’m unraveling my own argument?)
But about that counter-cultural thing. Does an intent to truly “counter” the culture demand that I turn away from anything that smells of an associative “cool” factor? Or, upon evaluation of all the options, if I honestly decide that the iPhone is the one that does the job best (no, I don’t have one – mine’s a basic Samsung) or even simply feels “just right” in my hands – does that mean I can no longer sit at the counter-cultural table? And if the counter-cultural actually have their own table, doesn’t that just make them a different, smaller sort of normative culture seeking to overcome their insecurities by disassociating themselves from the associative evil?
Eh, now my head hurts. I wonder what brand of pain medication I should take.
You know what? I don’t care. I’m going with generic ibuprofen. I guess I’m with you after all. I’m going to give up the game. Just don’t make me give up my MacBook Air, too. Have you seen these things? They’re unbelievably cool.
I was in a work meeting today and noticed two coworkers with iPhones. One was a young, adorable 20-something with a sassy haircut. The other was an older, adorable 60-something with a sassier haircut. I stared at my Samsung Blackjack II that can keep up in many ways with the Apples in their hands and wondered – am I a little adorable? Is my haircut sassy enough?
I want to be a counter-culture heroine, but I also want a coat that’s warm AND lovely.
Just read the post and had to say that Don, you are cool. Maybe because authors aren’t as recognizable as rock stars, actors, etc. But ask any person under the age of 30 who considers themselves a Christian (and many non-Christians as well) and the moment they hear the name Don Miller, they think “cool”.