According to behavioral science experts, Apple representatives use a very specific posture during their presentations of new products to arouse the desire to buy.
If you’re even remotely interested in the world of technology, you’ve probably heard of keynotes Apple, these famous conferences where representatives of the famous Californian company present new products (new iPhone, new Mac, etc.). Originally established by Steve Jobs, the charismatic founder of the apple company, these grand masses have become over the years real shows with sequences and special effects worthy of Hollywood productions. Since Covid, they are also broadcast online, live, which makes it very easy to attend, especially since they are available on YouTube with French subtitles.
Of course, nothing is left to chance in these presentations. With a millimeter-perfect staging and a carefully polished speech, everything is done to praise the qualities of the new products and remind us of Apple’s superiority over the competition. And if we can smile at the amazing and other exciting which punctuate the sentences of the always very enthusiastic speakers, a small detail inevitably attracts curiosity when we pay attention to their attitude.
Like the TV hosts, all Apple experts remain standing during their demonstrations. And they all have exactly the same posture and gestures, starting with Tim Cook, the CEO of the firm, who opens and closes the conferences. A similarity that raises questions, and which is probably not a simple coincidence.
It’s not the silent, benevolent prayer that Tim Cook regularly seems to address to the audience when he has his hands together, but the position of the arms. In almost all the sequences, the speakers keep them close to the body, with their forearms raised and their hands open, as if they were holding a small, invisible object.
We asked behavioral analysis experts to examine keynotes and their verdict was as immediate as it was unanimous. “This posture is not natural and the fact that all presenters adopt it is not by chance. It is based on the understanding of mirror neurons”explains Jean-Baptiste Quenin, mentalist and social psychologist, better known as Gibé QB. The subject of many studies in cognitive neuroscience, these neurons enter into the process of unconscious imitation that triggers empathic reactions when two individuals observe each other. They are the ones that cause automatic yawning when we see someone yawning. And they play an essential role in social learning, as highlighted by Wikipedia.
In Apple’s case, this gesture could come from marketing and communications consultants who would encourage speakers to adopt it in order to maintain a dignified telegenic attitude during their presentations, by avoiding having their arms dangling for example. Incidentally – or not – this posture would also give the spectators the unconscious desire to hold an object in their hands, and in particular one of the new products presented. A form of subtle mental manipulation that could provoke a desire to buy.
This Monday, September 9, 2024, at 7 p.m. French time, Apple will hold a keynote back to school to unveil several new products, including the famous iPhone 16. The opportunity to carefully observe the attitude of the presenters to see if this characteristic gesture is still used as much…