It appears, despite my attempt to squeeze all the juice to be had out of ‘my’ ongoing iPhone story, it just kept giving, and when life gives you lemons, make…….
Here is a quick recap to clear up any confusion.
A client was ready to sell an original 2007 unopened iPhone he had neglected to open.
I contacted Richard Wright of Wright/Rago Auction in Chicago and arranged for it to be consigned, along with an X-ray image.
The New York Times ran the story in their Style section, which went viral.
Tech Influencer Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) bids and wins it for $40,000.
He posts it on YouTube, where it goes fully viral and gets nearly 4 million views in 4 days and 2 million on Twitter as well as numerous online stories, blogs, posts, comments, etc.
MKBHD unwraps on YouTube
The video is part of the now-established genre called unboxing. A form of unwrapping porn that keeps a mesmerized audience wrapped in the process. Pass the parcel for techies. Marques lulls you with his smooth commentary as each layer is peeled away like an alluring collectible striptease. There is a brief pause, a plug of his slim techie fetish wallet, then it’s back to the Christmas Day present, for the kid in all of us.
The moment he slices the protective plastic sheath, you can almost hear a collective online gasp as $40,000 is supposedly, wiped from its value, similar to a burning briefcase of banknotes, crashing stock prices, or a shattered Koons Poodle.
This is a technology version of Shrödingers’s Cat, which while boxed/ unseen, remained suspended in a super-position, possibly an original iPhone or not. An updated quantum experiment for the 2020s, until Marques’s curiosity killed this particular cat.
I had considered all this before I had consigned it by providing an X-ray image of the outdated device. I had hoped it would be enough to satisfy any lingering doubts. Was it just a repack or even a brick?
In this case, the need to take a peek behind the curtain was the motive to go to Oz, in the first place. The big reveal.
In the heady 90s a top charting Brit group known as The K Foundation (KLF), apparently, as an act of art and possibly protest (not sure against who, the Queen?) burned a million pounds.
Is this an act of ‘art’ making or yet another drawn-out unboxing video with as much significance as those adorable cat videos?
The jury is still out.
It has created a little backlash in the comments section, which range from “Dude, that was awesome” to “You could have given that to starving children in Africa” (and it’s always Africa with this crowd).
The value was the point. If the iPhone, had been worth $400 it would not have got the 4 million views giving it full attention for 13.5 mins.
The perceived value was destroyed by sacrificing one cow for the sacred cow of advertising, it seems a fair exchange. For a mere $40,000 he got 6 million people’s attention and stole the 13.5 precious minutes they will never get back.
I wrote to MKBHD (Marques) offering to help place the newly unboxed iPhone back at auction, and if now it brought more than cost, then donate the rest. It would complete the circle and could be considered an act of art. A creation born from destruction.
Sadly, he said he would pass on the ‘opportunity’!
Art for art’s sake, money for God’s sake!
Oh, by the way, the check arrived.
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_the_k_foundation_burn_a_million_quid
