Taking a bite out of Apple: Jailbreaking and the confluence of brand loyalty, consumer resistance and the co-creation of value

Introduction, background, literature review and context

In 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne started Apple. Initially focussing on personal computers and operating systems (Apple in the 1970s and Mac 1980s), the company diversified into laptops, PDA's and networking solutions in the 1990s. Apple gained popularity as consumers saw it as an innovative alternative in a conformist industry. In line with this ideology, the company used, a now infamous, advertisement in 1984 to launch the Mac. The ad depicts Apple as a heroine liberating humanity from a future where the "overlord" (IBM) has removed all aspects of individuality. Coupled with the tagline of "Think Different", Apple provided consumers with an expressive output and the Mac brand became a status symbol of individuality and empowerment. Whilst Apple continues to portray themselves as a cutting-edge, revolutionary liberator, in 2016, three decades later, some individuals detect a disconcerting change in Apple. With the release of the iPhone, some 20 million users (Freeman, 2009; Greenberg, 2013; Perez, 2013) feel that Apple has become the overlord they were trying to defeat.

First, by exploring a unique form of consumer resistance termed jailbreaking, this research questions if Apple's symbolic claims are still legitimate, "Think different", but perhaps only if Apple can dictate how to "think" and what "different" means. Second, we argue, perhaps surprisingly, that brand loyalty and satisfaction need not be dependent as prior research suggests (Oliver, 1999) and that brand loyalty and consumer resistance are not mutually exclusive phenomena. Therefore, the research questions posed by this study are:RQ1.

What are the motivations driving resistance of a much adored brand such as Apple?

RQ2.

Can jailbreaking teach us anything new about brand loyalty, co-creation of value and consumer resistance?

Brand loyalty, co-creation and consumer resistance

In their seminal conceptualisation of the concept, Jacoby and Kyner (1973) define brand loyalty as:

[...] the biased (i.e. nonrandom), behavioral response (i.e. purchase), expressed over time by some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and is a function of psychological (decision- making, evaluative) processes, p. 2.

Oliver (1999) provides an equally seminal definition suggesting that loyalty is a deeply held commitment to repurchase a brand despite the various situational influences that...