11-29-08 The 1984 Apple Macintosh Commercial
Posted by gavortnik on November 29, 2008
Well, Shanoah, if we’re going to run stodgy Windows commercials, then we ought to show their polar opposite, right? And I think you know where I’m going with this…
Football fans who tuned in to the 1984 Super Bowl were treated to a little TV advertising history around the third quarter. The spot was directed by Ridley Scott (back when he was a good director) to introduce Apple’s new Macintosh computers, and it became forever known as the “1984″ commercial.
Courtesy of seancollier.
Ted Friedman of Duke University goes much more into the history and impact of this commercial than I’m willing to here. It’s worth a read. But I do want to reiterate one of his points in this blog:
… Ever since that commercial, the Mac has glowed with an aura of rebellion and empowerment. Without that commercial, those subsequent developments might not have been possible. The creative workers who embraced the Mac later in the 1980s may have never taken the plunge, without the buzz the commercial created. Without such a blockbuster introduction, in fact, the Mac might have sank before it ever had a chance to prove itself – as happened to its immediate Apple predecessor, the Lisa.
Well, the Macintosh hasn’t sunk, but it hasn’t exactly thrived, either. I mean, it has, what, two percent of the PC market? It just goes to show that advertising prowess doesn’t always translate into sold product. The converse, unfortunately, can also be said of Microsoft.
