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iFixit launches ‘I’m A Genius’ campaign to encourage users to repair their own devices

iFixit has launched a new campaign today called “I’m a Genius” to encourage anyone and everyone to repair their own devices. The initiative calls out how companies use marketing and other strategies to make repair seem out of reach for most people, despite it being doable for anyone. iFixit is also giving away $1,000 worth of tools as part of the campaign.

iFixit shared the campaign in a blog post. It starts out by looking back and remembering that repairing products used to be an important value in our culture.

Repair used to be a bedrock of our culture—a fundamental pillar. But somewhere between the endless product releases and constant upgrade cycles, we stopped fixing. Worse, we started to fear it.

Further, iFixit believes marketing by Apple and Best Buy have made consumers feel inadequate to handle their own repairs.

Apple’s decision to brand their tech support “Genius Bar” was…well, genius. They’ve positioned themselves as the highest breed of technical expert, intellectually superior to the rest of us in every way—and culturally cool, to boot. You’d probably consult an expert—but you would never contest the opinions of a genius. Their marketing was so successful that Best Buy followed suit by launching their own internal tech support team, Geek Squad.

On the bright side, iFixit notes that Right to Repair legislation has been introduced in the US in 18 states this year, and Europe has introduced their own version as well.

To further promote users repairing their own devices, iFixit is running its “I’m a Genius” campaign through the end of the month.

We need to show the world that we’re capable of fixing the things we own, so I’m asking everyone to share their repair stories throughout February using the hashtag #ImAGenius. Tell me what you’ve fixed. Tell me what you’re going to fix. Take pictures of your repair. Record a quick video and share the story of your first fix. I’m not picky! I just want to flood the internet with repair stories that we can share with our state legislators to prove that we’re all, in fact, geniuses.

Ten winners will get a $100 gift card for iFixit’s store and be able to bolster their tool collection. iFixit also asked popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything to share why he feels repair is important. The company also had four people without any repair experience give it a shot with their Apple device on camera. Check out both videos below.

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.