Steve Jobs Portrayed As Big Brother In 1984 Remix Ad

Leander Kahney ()

jobs_big_brother

Twenty five years after Apple aired its famous 1984 commercial, it’s Steve Jobs that is being portrayed as Big Brother.

In a remake of Apple’s famous 1984 ad, which famously portrayed IBM as a force of oppression, startup doubleTwist has Apple pegged as the oppressor.

The web ad — clearly designed to go viral — shows armies of iPod-wearing drones shuffling into an auditorium. It’s a shot-for-shot remake of the original but done on the cheap: it’s animated. The drones sit to hear a propaganda speech from a skinny white guy wearing distinctive Lennon-style glasses — Steve Jobs.

“No other choices shall detract from our glory,” he commands from the screen.

And then into the auditorium runs a female athlete (anime-style) who throws a hammer and shatters the screen — just like the original ad. It closes with the message: “On October 6th, doubleTwist brings you.. Choice.”

What Choice is, doubleTwist isn’t saying. But if you download the doubleTwist app now, the update will be automatically downloaded on October 6, the company’s website promises.

Cofounded by Jon Lech Johansen (AKA DVD Jon), the hacker who famously reverse engineered DVD encryption, DoubleTwist is a San Francisco company that makes a software media player of the same name. The media player is much like iTunes, but unlike Apple’s software, it syncs with hundreds of gadgets, including Palm’s Pre, Google Android devices and RIM’s Blackberries.

The company is no stranger to controversial guerrilla advertising. Earlier this summer, the company commissioned a billboard next to Apple’s flagship San Francisco store advertising it’s software.
“The Cure for iPhone Envy,” the ad said. “Access your iTunes Library on any device. In Seconds.”

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The billboard didn’t last long — Apple soon had it taken down. See it below.  And here’s the doubleTwist new web ad in full:

applead

16 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Advertising, Apple, News, Steve Jobs |

  • Akmed Jones

    Wow, how cool…using a video to kick around some guy dying of cancer. Karma is a bitch, Jon Leech. Burn in hell, bitch, burn in hell!

  • Fat Gorilla

    The idea is apparently good (Palm must be having a party) but the ad really sucked. No creativity. Steve Jobs doesn’t look or sound like Steve Jobs at all. And hentai cartoon ??! One word : sucked.

  • CaryMG

    Don’t listen to them — only use iTunes !!11!!11!1

  • http://twitter.com/wisher86 mario

    The ad is not so good, but I like the idea. I never liked to be forced to use a single program to sync a device with my library.

    On a Mac the situation is not that bad since iTunes works well, but on other platforms there are real issues if you want to sync your iPod. On Windows iTunes is one of the worst software, in other alternative platforms it doesn’t event exist.

  • daniel

    am I the only one who thinks that doubleTwist giving us “choice” and then forcing an automatic update on the 6th doesn’t make sense?

  • Paul

    Don’t like Apple or iTunes then go buy something else. Nobody is forcing you to use it or buy it.

  • Barry Wood

    From what I could tell, doubletwist is not actually defeating the fairplay DRM, they’re just automating the transcoding in the background.

    I looked into this because I’ve got 250+ songs that I’ve bought from the iTMS that have never been made available as iTunes+ upgrades. I’d like to be able to use iVolume on them but it won’t work on protected songs.

  • http://www.grinningidiot.com JAYnLA

    Barry –

    Burn your problems songs to a CD then re-import them. They will be DRM free.

  • Heh

    It’s “it’s”. Please learn to write.

    “Twenty five years after Apple aired it’s famous 1984 commercial, it’s Steve Jobs that is being portrayed as Big Brother.”

  • Jake

    @Paul: Maybe you like iTunes very much but have just bought a device that isn’t currently compatible with it? Are you saying those people should have to buy a second device if they want to use the iTunes marketplace? Get real.

    I commend doubleTwist in their effort to give users more freedom and ‘choice’.

  • Snooze

    The Simpsons already did this parody last season with the mypod episode. Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody even beat the Simpsons on this.

  • Douglas

    > It’s “it’s”. Please learn to write.
    > “Twenty five years after Apple aired it’s famous 1984 commercial, it’s Steve Jobs that is being portrayed as Big Brother.”

    @Heh

    No, it’s “its.”
    “It’s” is “it is,” but “its” is a possessive pronoun, such as “your” or “their.”
    Imagine if it were your ad, instead of Apple’s:

    “Twenty five years after you aired you’re famous 1984 commercial…”

    Weird, isn’t it?

    Don’t you think it’s better this way below?

    “Twenty five years after you aired your famous 1984 commercial…”

    It’s the same logic here. Kahney is right, it’s “its.”

  • http://www.apple.com Matreya

    This is the lamest ad I’ve seen in months – it betrays the fact that the DoubleTwist ‘people’ are complete virgins to marketing.

    I’d be grumpy if I was forced to use an inferior product for my music, but I’m not – I’m using an ipod touch, not some dinky piece of shit engineered by 9th-rate engineers in taiwan.

  • Fuzzypig

    Hmmm I wonder what video mastering software was used and what platform it was running on….could it have been Final Cut on Job’s baby?!

  • Heh

    Actually, Douglas, you’re a retard and I mistyped. I meant it’s “its”, and that slobbering idiot Kahney wrote “it’s” not its.

    So suck it, macfag.

  • Arthur Dent

    Steve Jobs is Big Brother