Celebrities often get hot products handed to them, while the rest of us stand in line. But during lead-up time to a product launch at Apple, nobody’s stardom status gets them a break.
Free stuff flows readily for celebrities. As New York recently reported, companies leap at any personal news–sending baby stuff to new moms, cars to a birthday party, and $100,000 in goodies to red-carpet walkers. Companies want to glom onto a celeb’s buzz, so they can chalk the giveaways up to smart marketing. But at Apple, whose product launches spark entire news cycles, no celebrity symbiosis is necessary. Which means the company is skilled at saying “no” to people who only hear “yes.”
In the article, Feifer relates stories from celebs who have tried to score Apple products, or even inside information about them before their official release.
Shaquille O’Neal, Former NBA Player and current TV Analyst: “I’ve always wanted to be the one that’s on the edge of technological curve. I always wanted to be ahead of everybody else. The great Steve Jobs, rest in peace, when the iPhone was first coming out, I used to call him every other day. Can I please get one first? Can I please get one first? He never gave me one. He said, ‘Shaq, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’ He was a great guy.”
Channing Frye, Forward – Phoenix Suns: “My cousin works for Apple, in marketing. I bug her every day about what’s coming out. All she can say is, ‘What you have works perfectly fine.’ Literally, they are like a secret society–if I tell, I have to kill you. It’s just wild how they are so tight-lipped about everything. That makes everyone want it so much more–and the NBA is sponsored by Apple, basically. I’ve yet to see a player use a PC on the road. So, we’re all interested. I went to Apple and visited once, checked it out, looked around. I was more interested in if I could find any secret codes. But I can’t hide. I’m too big for that.”
There are some things that are just worth standing in line for. Even for celebrities.