Search results
Jan 22, 2014 · Apple cuts to the tagline: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'. The idea was that Macintosh would revolutionize computing and ...
- Karis Hustad
Karis Hustad interned for the innovation and business desks...
- Apple Computer
We would like to show you a description here but the site...
- Karis Hustad
Feb 9, 2024 · Apple. By Saul Austerlitz. Published Feb. 9, 2024 Updated Feb. 10, 2024. Four decades ago, the Super Bowl became the Super Bowl. It wasn’t because of anything that happened in the game itself ...
Sep 20, 2024 · Clow discussed with Jobs an idea for the commercial inspired by the book 1984 by Jorge Orwell: ‘Why 1984 won’t be like 1984' Jobs loved the idea. It represented Apple’s and his rebellious ...
Jan 21, 2020 · During a break in the action of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22nd, 1984, audiences first see a commercial that is now widely agreed to be one of the most powerful and effective of all time. Apple ...
- Missy Sullivan
- “Why 1984 Won't Be Like 1984”
- Skinheads, A Discus Thrower, and A Sci-Fi Director
- What Executives at Apple Thought
- What Everybody Else Thought
- The Sequel
- A 20th Anniversary Update
- Further Reading
- * = A Note on The Airing in 1983
The tagline “Why 1984 Won't Be Like 1984” references George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984, which envisioned a dystopian future, controlled by a televised "Big Brother." The tagline was written by Brent Thomas and Steve Hayden of the ad firm Chiat\Day in 1982, and the pair tried to sell it to various companies (including Apple, for the Apple II computer)...
Chiat\Day hired Ridley Scott, whose 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner had the dystopian tone they were looking for (and Alien wasn't so bad either). Scott filmed the ad in London, using actual skinheads playing the mute bald men—they were paid $125 a day to sit and stare at Big Brother; those who still had hair were paid to shave their headsfor the sho...
Although Jobs and his marketing team (plus the assembled throng at his 1983 internal presentation) loved the ad, Apple's Board of Directors hated it. After seeing the ad for the first time, board member Mike Markkula suggested that Chiat\Day be fired, and the remainder of the board were similarly unimpressed. Then-CEO John Sculley recalled the reac...
When the ad aired, controversy erupted—viewers either loved or hated the ad, and it spurred a wave of media coverage that involved news shows replaying the ad as part of covering it, leading to estimates of an additional $5 million in "free" airtime for the ad. All three national networks, plus countless local markets, ran news stories about the ad...
A year later, Apple again employed Chiat\Day to make a blockbuster ad for their Macintosh Office product line, which was basically a file server, networking gear, and a laser printer. Directed by Ridley Scott's brother Tony, the new ad was called "Lemmings," and featured blindfolded businesspeople whistling an out-of-tune version of Snow White's "H...
In 2004, the ad was updated for the launch of the iPod. The only change was that the woman with the hammer was now listening to an iPod, which remained clipped to her belt as she ran. You can watch that version too:
Chiat\Day adman Lee Clow gave an interview about the ad, covering some of this material. Check out Mac team member Andy Hertzfeld's excellent first-person account of the ad. A similar account (but with more from Jobs's point of view) can found in the Steve Jobs biography, and an even more in-depth account is in The Mac Bathroom Reader. The Mac Bath...
Update: Thanks to Tom Frank for writing in to correct my earlier mis-statement about the first air date of this commercial. As you can see in his comment below, Hertzfeld's comments above (and the dates cited in other accounts I've seen) are incorrect. Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Frank, in which we discuss what it was like running bot...
Jan 23, 2009 · And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984." In the entertainment industry, it was the dawn of the cinematic Super Bowl ad. For historians, it was a notable moment in Soviet-tinged pop culture.
People also ask
Why did Apple ad say 1984 won't be like '1984'?
Is 1984 a 'Macintosh'?
Why does 1984 won't be like 1984?
Did George Orwell know about Apple's '1984 TV spot?
Was 1984 Apple's last Mac marketing campaign?
Did 1984 become '1984'?
Jan 22, 2014 · On the 30th anniversary of Apple's "1984" TV spot, we look back at three decades of Mac commercials. George Orwell probably didn't know how much we'd talk about him so many years later, but our ...
