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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 ...
- “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...
1984 (advertisement) " 1984 " is an American television commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas, and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. The ad was a reference to George Orwell 's noted 1949 novel ...
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
Jan 22, 2014 · By Eric Hintz January 22, 2014. 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of Apple's famous "1984" television ad that aired on January 22, 1984, during the third quarter of the Super Bowl XVIII between the Los Angeles Raiders and Washington Redskins. Historian Eric Hintz describes how the "1984" ad and the introduction of the Apple Macintosh were key ...
Scene from Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl advertisement. From Folklore.org. When shown the finished ad in late 1983, Apple’s board members hated it. Sculley, the Apple CEO, instructed Chiat/Day to sell back both the 30 and 60-second time slots they’d purchased from CBS for $1 million, but they were only able to unload the 30 second slot.
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Jan 24, 2024 · On this day 40 years ago, Apple’s first Macintosh went on sale, just two days after being introduced to the world during a commercial break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Although ...
