Philip Elmer-DeWitt for Fortune:

In the popular imagination — and in Samsung TV ads — the people willing to wait in line for days to buy the newest Apple (AAPL) gewgaw are hopeless fanboys and fangirls who need to get a life. That attitude is so 2007.

Elmer-DeWitt notices an interesting trend in the folks who camp out the earliest – at least in some cases, they’re doing it either in a craven attempt at self-promotion or to raise awareness of a charity or cause they’re supporting.