Anyone who follows advertising can’t help having seen the commercial that introduced Apple’s Macintosh computer during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. Even though it only aired once, in Super Bowl lore the one minute ad regularly wins top honors and has set a creative bar for every Super Bowl commercial since.
Director Ridley Scott, fresh off of Blade Runner, created a dystopian vision of George Orwell’s novel “1984” that begged for a savior to free the masses from the sinister control of Big Brother.
In 60 seconds Scott pulled it off. In stunning, cinematic fashion.
But looking back on it today, 40 years on, the “1984” commercial is not really an introduction for the Macintosh computer at all.
It’s a movie trailer.
And we’ve been living the story ever since.
What Apple was selling was freedom. An alternative to the boring norm. A cause to believe in. The Mac was just a tool to get us there.
It was the perfect message at the perfect time to the perfect audience.
For baby boomers, the ’80’s was a reality check. With the 60’s and 70’s in the rear view mirror, life began to look a lot more like the world of our parents. Jobs became careers, party conversation revolved around real estate, and disco sort of homogenized everything.
The establishment we renounced and the freedom we enjoyed became part of our DNA. Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Rings, and, yes, 1984 were our guidebooks. Everything was a conspiracy and no one over 30 could be trusted.
The IBM PC launched in 1981 and by 1984 was the dominant PC manufacturer for business use. Because who would want a personal computer in their home anyway? Well, I did. I bought a Televideo that ran on MS-DOS using 5.25 inch floppy disks. Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect were mind-blowing.
I know. You had to be there.
Anyway, all the pieces came together for the 1984 Super Bowl.
The establishment / Big Brother > IBM.
The rebels > boomer holdouts.
The hero > Apple.
Dim the lights.
To be fair, Apple didn’t catch on all at once. In fact the platform wars in the 90’s were brutal. Jobs was pushed out. Macs get worse and worse compared to PC’s. Every month brought some new prediction of Apple’s imminent demise.
Then, miraculously, Jobs is back. Rebuilding and re-defining what the computing experience is all about. Looking back today, it’s hard to imagine how close it came to never happening. There aren’t many companies that can claim to have changed the world in a profound and extraordinary way. But Apple is one of them.
There are naysayers who argue that Apple has become the Big Brother they vilified 40 years ago, but I disagree.
Apple continues to be a bit player in the marketplace, even though they command a huge mindshare. In the PC market, Apple shipped only 13.3 percent of the units sold in the 2nd quarter of 2022. The 4th largest PC supplier. Apple’s iPhones accounted for a 25% share of 2023 mobile photo sales globally.
Which means that Apple’s success is driven by setting higher bars, just as they did 40 years ago, and inspiring both their customers and their competitors to reach for it. Time after time, Apple products are the choice of creatives and innovators worldwide and the message that started it all was launched with that Super Bowl commercial in 1984.
"On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984."
I’ll be following the Super Bowl this Sunday, but I’m going to watch the 1984 Apple commercial again too.
Just for another shot of inspiration.