Icon Analysis Blog

            The three pop culture icons I selected are a coke bottle, Apple Inc., and Kim Kardashian West. All of these represent pop icons which by definition are a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in pop culture constitutes a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The categorization is usually associated with elements such as longevity, ubiquity, and distinction.  In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company gave a brief to its design team, a brief that was so simple it became history: “a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.” In 2015, Coca-Cola celebrated the 100 years of its iconic Contour coke bottle, its timeless and most famous brand ambassador. Apple Inc. Apple, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of mobile communication, media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. The firm offers products and services under the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple Watch, and Apple TV brands. And Kim Kardashian West is an American reality television personality, actress, socialite, businesswoman and model.

            I choose the coke bottle because it is timeless and people of all ages recognize it. Even though now coke is sold in cans everyone has memories for the coke bottle. For many, Coca-Cola is indeed the brand that comes to mind when getting into the holiday spirit. This is more than reasonable, if not completely understandable, since Coca-Cola has been hard at work on branding themselves for the holidays since 1931. The Coke bottle icon brings back memories of Christmas to me and reminds me of fun times in my childhood. As children we were not allowed to drink pop but at Christmas but since it is such a special time we were allowed to drink coke with our cousins, grandparents and aunts and uncles. And I looked forward every year to getting to drink coke. So the coke bottle represents a part of my childhood and Christmas memories.

Next I choose Apple Inc. because Apple has changed everyone’s daily lives. Apple has produced products that have changed the way people around the world communicate, obtain information and entertain themselves.  Whether it’s iPods, iPhones or iPads, they have become a part of daily life for people around the world. Even when you travel, everybody’s got a device including little kids, parents, and older adults. When was the last time you were somewhere and you did not see someone with an iPAd, ipod or cell phone? For me Apple has made a huge impact on my life. I use an iPad at work and is so much lighter than the laptop I used to carry to meetings. I also use an iPhone  to be connected to work, family in friends wherever I go to keep up with emails, texts, phone calls and the world. My children also use Apple iPads and download games from their App Store. So everyone in my family would say they could not live without Apple.

Lastly I chose Kim Kardashian West as my last icon because Kim Kardashian is a marketing genius. And what she markets is herself. Yes she did have family connects (her father was Robert Kardashian - O J Simpson’s lawyer ) but she always leveraged her connections to put herself in the spotlight at the correct time. She is photogenic and she has no shame exploiting her beauty. But she is the master at marketing herself and is worth over $150 million but never went to college. To me Kim Kardashian West represents the opportunities in America – you can be whatever you want to be.  Yes, she came from some money but she has gone well beyond her beginnings and to me is truly an inspiration for me that if you work hard and can accomplish your dreams.