Some 43 million Americans saw the ad, and when the football game returned, CBS announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden asked one another, “Wow, what was that?” Sculley, the Apple CEO, instructed Chiat/Day to sell back both the 30 and 60-second time slots they’d purchased from CBS for $1 million, but they were only able to unload the 30 second slot. Apple was faced with the prospect of eating the $500,000 production costs of an ad that could really only air during calendar year 1984, so it swallowed hard and let the ad run once during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. When shown the finished ad in late 1983, Apple’s board members hated it. Scene from Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl advertisement. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’” The commercial never showed the actual computer, but ended with a tease: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. Shot in dark, blue-gray hues to evoke IBM’s Big Blue, the only splashes of color were the bright red running shorts of the protagonist, an athletic young woman who sprints through the commercial carrying a sledgehammer, and Apple’s rainbow logo.
Two hundred extras were paid $125 a day to shave their heads, march in lock-step, and listen to Big Brother’s Stalinist gibberish. The 60-second mini-film was shot in one week at a production cost of about $500,000.
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To direct the commercial, Chiat/Day hired British movie director Ridley Scott who’d perfected the cinematic look and feel of dystopian futures in Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). In the ad, IBM’s “Big Blue” would be cast as Big Brother, dominating the computer industry with its dull conformity, while Apple would re-write the book’s ending so that the Macintosh metaphorically defeats the regime. The trio developed a concept inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, in which The Party, run by the all-seeing Big Brother, kept the proletariat in check with constant surveillance by the Thought Police.
Sculley, who had masterminded the “Pepsi Generation” campaign, raised Apple’s ad budget from $15 million to $100 million in his first year.Īpple Macintosh (“classic” 128K version), 1984, catalog number 1985.0118.01, from the National Museum of American History.Īpple hired the Los Angeles advertising firm Chiat/Day to launch the Macintosh in early 1984 the account team was led by creative director Lee Clow, copywriter Steve Hayden, and art director Brent Thomas. At the same time, Apple had recently lured marketing whiz John Sculley away from Pepsi to be the firm’s new chief executive.
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In short, Jobs and his team were creating an “insanely great” personal computer that was intuitive and easy to use-one he hoped would shake-up the PC market. Clickable pictures called “icons.” Cut-copy-paste editing. A handheld input device called a “mouse.” A graphical user interface with overlapping “windows” and menus. And while the first personal computers of the early 1980s were smaller and less intimidating, they still featured black screens with green text-based commands.ĭrawing inspiration from the pioneering Xerox Alto and improving on the underperforming Apple Lisa, Jobs and the Apple team built the Apple Macintosh with several revolutionary new features we now take for granted. Remember that in 1983, most businesses and governments still employed large, expensive, and technically intimidating mainframes. Meanwhile, Apple, led by Steve Jobs, was busy developing its new Macintosh computer. Apple was selling its Apple II like hotcakes but was facing increasing competition from IBM’s PC and “clones” made by Compaq and Commodore. In 1983, the personal computing market was up for grabs. Who could forget Steelers Hall of Famer “Mean” Joe Greene selling Coca-Cola (1979) or the Budweiser guys coining “Wassuuuup?!?” (2000) as everyone’s new favorite catchphrase? However, Apple’s “1984” ad during Super Bowl XVIII is arguably the most famous Super Bowl commercial of all time.
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With so many eyeballs tuned in, advertisers bring out some of their best work and casual fans tune in for the groundbreaking TV commercials as much as for the game. In 2013, Super Bowl XLVII was the third most watched telecast of all time, with an average viewership of 108.7 million people. The Super Bowl is a cultural event that attracts the attention of more than just football fans.
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