Fake iPoddery, etc.
March 31st, 2004The other day I speculated that some of the people that you see wearing white earphones on the Tube actually have them plugged in to an old Walkman, as they can’t afford an iPod but crave the social status it gives, so they just buy the earphones. Anyway, the Register reports that people are now being targeted by muggers if they wear white earphones (although anyone with a name like Roland Baskerville deserves to be mugged anyway, if you ask me), which may kill off this tedious vanity, but then again it might not. As the Reg puts it, “The police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam.”
I would quote something from that recent Alain de Botton programme on status anxiety, but I can’t be bothered. Instead, and on a totally unrelated note, I’ll mention that chavs now have their own special category in Yahoo. Actually, maybe that’s the solution - start making iPods in Burberry. That would wipe out their cult status overnight.