Product placement
Apple has seen a tremendous amount of product placement in the media, reportedly with little or no financial prompting from the company. From the world-saving computer virus in Independence Day to Carrie Bradshaw’s electronic diary in Sex and the City, to the style of Eve in Pixar’s WALL-E, the Apple logo and influence can be spotted everywhere. This is essentially free advertising for the company. In a 2004 radio interview, Steven Levy describes the cause and effect of Apple product placements:
It’s two things.  First of all, Apple has for a long time had people whose job it is to make sure that you see a lot of Macintoshes in those TV shows, and there is a conscious attempt to seed producers in Hollywood studios with those.  It's my impression that generally that they don't pay for the product placement, but the people are happy to have Macintoshes.  They like Apple as a company, and they connect with the creativity, so it's a relationship that both sides are pretty happy with. (Conan, 2004)

 

Consumers see Apple as a cool product used by famous characters in media—from television and music, to movies and books—and decide to purchase an Apple product to be cool as well. As Apple defines itself as a cool, hip product, set directors will want to use Apple products to portray a character or scene as coinciding with the young, cool idea Apple implies.