Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Macintosh commercial

663 views
Skip to first unread message

JGA%M...@sri-unix.uucp

unread,
Jan 24, 1984, 11:17:00 PM1/24/84
to
From: John G. Aspinall <JGA @ MIT-MC>

Would anyone else like to comment on the Apple Macintosh commercial
shown during the third quarter of the Super Bowl? I thought it was a
gripping visceral 60 seconds of SF, and extremely effective. The
Boston Globe reports (not surprisingly) that it was directed by Ridley
Scott (Alien, Blade Runner).

In case you missed it, it showed a large auditorium filled with
zombie-like people with shaved heads, dressed in grey. They are
staring at a "Big Brother" figure displayed on a screen who is
lecturing them along the lines of "we control the information...".
Into the hall runs a blonde woman, dressed in bright red, with
police-types chasing her. Before the police get to her, she whirls a
sledgehammer around her head and hurls it through the screen. The
screen explodes in a blast of light. Then the voice-over explains
that Macintosh is coming etc., and 1984 won't be like '1984'.

At first I thought the commercial was an ad for a new SF movie. But
the one scene went on for too long - movie ads tend to cut among many
scenes. My next thought was the Olympics - athletes preserving our
freedom etc. But that didn't fit either - Big Brother was wired on a
different track. Once the Apple name appeared, it all clicked - if
the young woman is Apple, what other computer manufacturer is Big
Brother? The deduction - IBM - was almost instantaneous.

Did anyone else have this immediate reaction? Did Apple tap a lot of
subliminal feelings or is this only the reaction of the computer
sophisticates? Has SF produced an archetype?

John Aspinall.

Chuq Von Rospach

unread,
Jan 26, 1984, 11:58:51 AM1/26/84
to
I think that Apple's belief as to who 'Big Brother' really is can be
deduced from where the ad was shown. With the exception of the single
nationwide ad (on the Superbowl show) that ad showed regionally in the 14
largest markets in the country and Boca Raton, Florida (home of the PC
group of IBM). Gives you (and them) somthing to think about....

chuq

--
From the house at Pooh Corner: Chuq (a Silly Old Bear)
{fortune,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui
have you hugged your Pooh today?

The difficult we gave up on yesterday, the impossible we are giving up on now.

R.GRANTGES

unread,
Jan 26, 1984, 1:23:54 PM1/26/84
to
Well, yes it's a brilliant commercial that is probably clear to
anyone interested in purchasing either brand. And, yes they may
have created an instant archtype. But look at the brilliant archtype
they are up against - good old Charlie Chaplin, the antithesis of
the machine age man. I always wondered why smart old IBL** chose such
a clod-type character (other than to sell computers, I mean). Now
I can see that through superior industrial espionage they could
see the Apple commercial coming and got there first with the counter:
If you are too inept to package a cake or a hat, an IBM-pc will make
you rich overnight.
-Dick Grantges hound!rfg
** This freudian slip was just too good for me to correct.
0 new messages