MacNN | Print: SanDisk: "iDon't" Apple's iPod

View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/05/22/sandisk.idont.campaign/
Monday, May 22,2006 @ 10:35pm

SanDisk: "iDon't" Apple's iPod

Apple's iPod rival SanDisk taking Apple head-on with the launch of a new anti-iPod campaign this past weekend. The No. 2 maker of digital music players in the U.S has launched a new guerilla marketing "iDon't" campaign that promotes SanDisk’s own Sansa e200 music player by calling iPod users "unoriginal" and declaring them to be followers--without actually mentioning the iPod, but alluding to the industry-leading music player by its signature white earbud earphones. The website offers links ("propoganda") to other anti-iPod sites, which it calls "fellow media player freedom fighters" as well as the ability to purchase various "iDon't" t-shirts and free posters and desktop pictures, such as iSheep, iChimp, iFollow, iHerd, iShackle, iDroid, iPuppet, and more. The site touts SanDisk's Sansa e200 as "the alternative," urging users to "think for themselves."

"Calling all free thinkers, contrarians, and malcontents. The time has come to rise up against the iTatorship," the website manifesto reads. "To resist the monotony of white earbuds and reject the oppressive forces of cultural conformity. Now is the time to break-free from restrictive formats and a single source for music. It's time for choice, for freedom, for self-expression--and for all spirits to stand up and say 'iDon't' You don't need to follow. There is now an alternative."

The one--and only--news post ofers some background on the site and calls for others to rebel against Apple's dominance. "This site and the iDon’t campaign are the creation of several of us renegades behind the new Sansa player, from SanDisk. And this is our playful way of saying 'Enough!' Yeah, we’re just fed up with the ever-expanding flock of iSheep swarming through our cities. You’ve seen them. They’re everywhere. Every bus, train and city sidewalk is a mass of white headphones. Blindly they’ve bought into the hype without ever realizing there are other mp3 players out there."