Have you ever seen Apple's marketing? Better question, have you ever had an interaction with Apple where they weren't trying to sell an image to you?
I completely believe that among a technical audience that those here who chose Apple products did so because they evaluated the their options and chose the one that best fit their requirements, But if that was really their primary audience their marketing would look very different.
Have I seen ads? Yeah, but most of the ones I've seen are kind of hokey platitudes about the good they're doing for the world. I don't recall anything saying I'm higher class for having their products. I don't see a lot of ads though.
Part of marketing is guessing what kind of products will sell for the margins they like. Somehow, I fit into that audience.
I completely believe that among a technical audience that those here who chose Apple products did so because they evaluated the their options and chose the one that best fit their requirements, But if that was really their primary audience their marketing would look very different.