1984 Macintosh Commercial

The title of this commercial is an allusion to the novel written in 1949 by George Orwell.

The commercial was directed by Ridley Scott

(Alien, 1979, and Blade Runner, 1982) and cost $1.6 million to produce.

The Ad Originally Aired Jan 22, 1984

• The commercial was first aired during half-time of the 1984 Super Bowl.

• The commercial has taken on legendary status as “the biggest single splash in the history of advertising.”

It’s purpose was to announce the

release of the Macintosh,

Apple Corporation’s new personal computer.

• When this advertisement aired, Apple was in a fight with IBM to win control of the personal computer market.

• In the 1980s, Apple had the image of the maverick, anti-corporate company. For example, the company encouraged employees to wear jeans and t-shirts to work.

• In the 1980s, IBM was famous for its rigid company structure and insistence on that its employees maintain the “blue-suited corporate look and attitude”. The nickname for IBM is “Big Blue.”

The ad was almost not aired because of the high cost of air time during the Super Bowl. It cost $400,000 to produce and was going to cost $800,000 to appear once during the Super Bowl.

"One evening …Steve Jobs grabbed me and said 'Hey, come over here and look at this.' He pulled up a 3/4-inch VCR and played the ad. I was astounded. I thought it was the most incredible thing. Then he told me that the board decided not to show it. He didn't say why. I was so shocked. Steve said we were going to run it during the Super Bowl. I asked how much it was going to cost, and he told me $800,000. I said, 'Well, I'll pay half of it if you will.' I figured it was a problem with the company justifying the expenditure. I thought an ad that was so great a piece of science fiction should have its chance to be seen.” (Steve Wozniak)

It was estimated the commercial reached 46.4 percent of the households in America, a full 50 percent of the nation's men, and 36 percent of the women.

• Any apprehension Apple may have harbored regarding 1984 disappeared seconds after the spot ran. Switchboards immediately lit up at CBS, and Apple with calls demanding to know, "What was that?" Love it or hate it, the commercial demanded attention and sparked widespread controversy.

• It would ultimately garner an estimated $5 million in free publicity; all three television networks and nearly 50 local stations aired news stories about the spot, most replaying it in its entirety, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines wrote about the phenomenon.

• The commercial went on to win over 30 advertising industry awards.

• Advertising Age declared “1984” the Commercial of the Decade for the 1980’s and then in 1995 named it the “greatest commercial” of the last fifty years.

• In 1999, TV Guide named it the best commercial ever made.

• It is now considered a masterpiece in advertising, and is widely regarded as one of the most memorable and successful American television commercials of all time.

Goals Today

• Understand the characteristics of dystopian literature

• How do dystopian characteristics and symbolic imagery in the ad work together to convey a theme?

• How is this theme used to persuade the audience to buy this product?