Remembering the '1984' Super Bowl Mac Ad

Too bad it was all a lie. The control Apple exerts over its user's would make any Big Brother jealous.
 
I never have understood what the big deal is behind this commercial. Maybe I just never have got it.
 
darkpaw said:
Too bad it was all a lie. The control Apple exerts over its user's would make any Big Brother jealous.
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I believe the word in this case is Irony.
Oh, the bitter sweet Irony.

Yes, im capping it on purpose.
:D
 
I had an original Mac after cutting my teeth on the Apple ][ series. It was a leap ahead of anything else out there. Tiny little screen tho. That was when Woz was still with Apple and before Jobs's ego needed it's own office. ;) Yah, for a time, Apple was good stuff made for "hobbyists", geeks, and nerds. Now it's for the "instant gratification" folk. Apple stuff is still well engineered, I will give them that, but damn.. to upgrade you basically toss it in the garbage (or give it to a friend) and buy a new whatever.

Still a memorable ad tho...
 
I can see that ad being used now, not really back then.
 
Actually, it's considered to be one of the greatest commercials ever made. Everyone remembers it, but how many remember what teams were playing in that super bowl? I couldn't tell ya without looking it up.
 
darkpaw said:
Too bad it was all a lie. The control Apple exerts over its user's would make any Big Brother jealous.
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If you look at it from that point of view then yes, but not if you look at it as an alternative to the dominating computing paradigm existing at the time.
 
Ramp8g said:
Everyone remembers it, but how many remember what teams were playing in that super bowl? I couldn't tell ya without looking it up.
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But most convicts know. They can even tell you what cellblock the LB from either team's currently in.
 
It's called the internet, you could look it up instead of wondering about it on a forum :p
 
Ramp8g said:
Actually, it's considered to be one of the greatest commercials ever made. Everyone remembers it, but how many remember what teams were playing in that super bowl? I couldn't tell ya without looking it up.
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I do, but by virtue of the fact that it was my first time hosting a superbowl party in my first apartment my first year in college.

Anybody else look at that commercial and think "that's one pissed off Hooters chick?"
 
The point in advertising is to get your product remembered in whatever manner works. To this day, that ad is the single most effective piece of advertising in history based on the amout of times it ran... what's remarkable is that it was only aired once. Advertising Age hailed it as the best ad of the decade.

The only other 80's ad campaign I clearly remember is where's the beef? and Wendy's ran those ads non stop.

So Apple got their money's worth, and then some.
 
Ramp8g said:
Actually, it's considered to be one of the greatest commercials ever made. Everyone remembers it, but how many remember what teams were playing in that super bowl? I couldn't tell ya without looking it up.
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I think it was the 49ers and Dolphins.
 
Hmmm mindless drones staring gormlessly at some guy babbling almost religiously about stuff that's not interesting at all to anyone else............WAIT A MINUTE!!!!.........it was a vision of the future.......it's the Apple Expo!!!

YOU FOOLS, YOU DAMN FOOLS, LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!!!!
 
Finally I now understand the spoof in the futurama episode when they try to remarket Planet Express, with the new CEO frozen from the 80s, and they used the same format. I knew it must have been a mock of somthing, but now that question is answered;)
 
Funny how it took me 25 years AFTER that commercial to get my first mac.
 
Lord Johnny said:
The point in advertising is to get your product remembered in whatever manner works. To this day, that ad is the single most effective piece of advertising in history based on the amout of times it ran... what's remarkable is that it was only aired once. Advertising Age hailed it as the best ad of the decade.

The only other 80's ad campaign I clearly remember is where's the beef? and Wendy's ran those ads non stop.

So Apple got their money's worth, and then some.
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I think they came out with a study that stated the most remembered ads are not the most effective adds...

Taco bell stopped doing their hugely popular Chihuahua adds even though they were winning awards etc just because it wasn't bringing people in and buying product.

The study found if I remember right, that showing the product being used and over use of logos were much more effective in bringing customers in....

This is why outside of Apple commercials you rarely see those cool directed jean commercials where it was almost impossible to tell what was being advertised until the very end... because they are not effective more most companies.

Apple with their cool factor can probably pull it off though...
 
CleanSlate said:
It's not even funny or good, it's just a bad commercial in general.
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Then you miss the point entirely, which is unfortunately the case with ignorant people.

In the time this commercial was put together, it was... Apple, a company formed in a garage, literally... trying to take a bite (pun intended) out of the largest most monolithic corporation in the computer industry...

IBM, aka "Big Blue"

IBM was seen by most if not all involved as the perfect white shirt, perfect collar, Brooks Brothers suit-wearing "Men In Blue" if you'll forgive the paraphrasing. They were "Big Brother" in more ways than most people can shake sticks at.

So the concept was, you don't have to be one of "them," you can break free of the shackles of conformity as pretty much 99.999999% of the "personal" computers on the planet in 1983 leading into 1984 where beige boring basic back-breaking boxes of hardware and lackluster software.

I never saw the original commercial when it aired, I caught it many years later and even then when I did see it I understood it for what it was meant to convey in those 60 seconds, and there really has never been another commercial - never another single commercial - that so precisely and clearly defined the situation and a way out... without really saying a single word.

The only other commercial I've ever seen in my lifetime that had the power this one does is the old one with the crying Indian done for the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign long ago. It's one of my earliest memories of TV in the very early 70s when I was just a young pup myself. Seems a bit corny now if you check it out on YouTube, but even so, it's powerful stuff if you can give yourself the mindset of that time period.

I think Apple shot themselves in the foot with MacWorld this year, regardless of Steve Jobs' lack of appearing. I think they should have really spent a lot of time remembering it's been 25 years since the Macintosh was released and catapulted them fully into the stratosphere like not many other products for others companies have.

The way they just ignored it, and the significance of the anniversary, is downright shameful.

While I do have some respect for the company (not much, but some), I just gotta say that I think it was a huge mistake to blow off this milestone. They should buy airtime at the SuperBowl with some of that RECORD PROFIT and re-air the original commercial... and issue a public thanks to the world for all the support they've been given over the years.

That would be somewhat redeeming... but they won't.
 
Yes, I remember the ad
Yes, I know it was referring to 1984 and understand the undertones
and yes, I can't for the life of me take my eyes of the bouncing, jiggling....
 
Joe Average said:
Then you miss the point entirely, which is unfortunately the case with ignorant people.

(more stuff)

That would be somewhat redeeming... but they won't.
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Im not trying to twist yer words, just thought I'd shrten that up a bit.

Don't make the mistake of thinking someone is ignorant, jusy because they don't agree with you.

I saw the original, got it, I understand all that. I even read the book, and made the connection. It's really not that clever, or complex. I still don't BUY it though. It's as much BS now, as it was then. As far as it being some great masterpiece of commercial success, perhaps. All that is really opinion, because it's impossible to prove one way or another. In my opinion, I think the long-running iTunes ads are much better, and more effective, especially in terms of bang-for-buck. Those couldn't have cost that much to produce, and they're run more frequently, but not at the over-priced, premium, Superbowl (TM) rates. As I recall, at the time, that Apple ad was the most expensive in terms of production costs. Can it really be shown to be the main reason they succeded, if they did in fact at all back then?
 
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