January 17, 1984: A week before its famous airing during Super Bowl XVIII, Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial debuts as a trailer in movie theaters. To hype its revolutionary new Macintosh computer, Apple buys several months of promotion from theatrical ad distributor ScreenVision.
Cupertino’s sci-fi-tinged “1984” spot — which depicts a sledgehammer-wielding freedom fighter taking on a Big Brother figure supposed to represent IBM — gets such a favorable audience reaction that some theater owners continue to roll the ad after Apple’s contract ends.
‘1984’ is Apple’s most important commercial ever
The erroneous claim that Apple’s “1984” commercial aired just once continues to thrive. Yes, the ad most memorably ran during 1984’s Super Bowl. But many forget its extraordinary theatrical run.
The spot’s earliest showing was, as it happens, at 1 a.m. in Twin Falls, Idaho, on the last day of 1983, so as to make it eligible for advertising industry awards the following year.
Ridley Scott directed Apple’s “1984” ad. Back then, most knew Scott for making Alien and Blade Runner, although he possessed a strong advertising background as well. The “1984” Mac ad played on imagery from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four novella, presenting Apple as rebels fighting a technocratic elite.
You can watch the stunning ad here:
A controversial change to Apple advertising
At the time, the”1984″ Mac commercial worried Apple’s board of directors. The spot certainly was a lot gloomier than the company’s previous commercials, which traded on the comedic timing of Apple celebrity spokesman Dick Cavett. There was nothing cuddly about the new Macintosh ad, which was firmly rooted in the burgeoning dystopian cyberpunk aesthetic.
Years later, ad man Steve Hayden described the chaotic production of the controversial commercial.
“The first version of the spot was more Jetsons than Metropolis,” Hayden said. “The intention was to remove people’s fears of technology at a time when owning your own computer made about as much sense as owning your own cruise missile. We wanted to democratize technology, telling people that the power was now literally in their hands.”
Despite the internal controversy at Apple, Steve Jobs ultimately ensured that the eye-catching “1984” commercial aired. It turned into a massive critical success — even if an argument could be made, based on poor early Mac sales, that it didn’t sell the computer hard enough.
Nevertheless, it was event marketing. The fact that, decades later, people continue to talk about the “1984” Mac ad and use it as a reference point makes it a critically important part of Apple’s history.
Was ‘1984’ the best Apple commercial ever?
While the “1984” ad rocked the advertising world, a similarly themed sequel (dubbed “Lemmings” and promoting Macintosh Office) bombed hard a year later.
Do you remember your first viewing of the “1984” commercial? Is it your favorite Apple ad of all time? If not, what is? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Today in Apple history: Mac’s ‘1984’ ad debuts in theaters”
I saw this ad in real-time during the Super Bowl in 1984. Of course, it was a “virgin viewing.” I could not remain in my chair, so I stood, then paced. Goose bumps covered me, my spine tingled, and my brain exploded. I will never forget it as long as I live. I bought that first Mac and the next one after that and many more since. The biggest impacts on my life are from Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, and Jimmy Page.
Favorite Apple ad of all time? How about favorite ad of all time. I also saw it’s Super Bowl showing and I’m assume by other comments, in other forums about this commerical that I wasn’t the only one whose jaw was on the ground after the commercial was over. I couldn’t afford a Macintosh till a couple of years later (the Macintosh Plus) but the ad still did it’s job, at least on this consumer. I didn’t hear a lot of the behind the scenes stories untill I went to work for Apple. The 1am showing on television in Idaho, the rumored, or not, showing on another tv station a night earlier since you needed more than one showing to be eligable for the award, the demands of the board, etc. Combine all those stories, reactions and how this ad holds our attention today 33 years later, how many other ads, Apple or otherwise, have done that (recent I’m a Mac and I’m a PC ads don’t count).