A screenshot from the commercial. The unnamed heroine, running from the security guards, approaches the hall where the "workers" are assembling. She carries a sledge hammer, which she will hurl at the gigantic screen where Big Brother is pictured.

"1984" is the title of the television commercial that launched the Apple Macintosh personal computer in the United States, in January 1984. Apples 1984 ad, which aired during the Superbowl This work is copyrighted. ... Apples 1984 ad, which aired during the Superbowl This work is copyrighted. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Apple Inc. ... The Macintosh 128K, the first Macintosh computer The iMac, the most recent Mac Macintosh, commonly known as Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ...

The commercial aired on January 22, 1984 during a break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. The ad showed an unnamed heroine (played by Anya Major) wearing red shorts, red running shoes, and a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple's Macintosh computer, running through an Orwellian world to throw a sledgehammer at a TV image of Big Brother — an implied representation of IBM — played by David Graham^[1]. This was followed by an on-screen message and accompanying voice over by actor Edward Grover: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984." At the end, the Apple "rainbow bitten apple" logo is shown on a black background. is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... Date January 22, 1984 Stadium Tampa Stadium City Tampa, Florida MVP Marcus Allen, Running back Favorite Redskins by 2 1/2 National anthem Barry Manilow Coin toss Bronko Nagurski Referee Gene Barth Halftime show Salute to Superstars of the Silver Screen with the University of Florida and Florida State University... Anya Major in the 1984 commercial. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Sleeveless T-shirt. ... Pablo Ruiz Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. ... Apple Inc. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Big Brother as portrayed in the BBCs 1954 production of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... IBM redirects here. ... David Graham is a British character actor and voice artist, whose work may be more familiar than his name. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ...

Creation

Big Brother makes a speech for the first "glorious anniversary" of the information purification mandates.

The 60-second film was created by the advertising agency Chiat/Day, with copy written by Steve Hayden and direction by Ridley Scott (who had just finished filming Blade Runner). Creative director Lee Clow was responsible for this and the later Energizer Bunny and Taco Bell chihuahua campaigns. The film was shot in London and most of the actors were British skinheads hired for the day at a cost of $125 each as the director was unable to find enough actors prepared to shave their heads.^{[citation needed]} The original script had suggested a baseball bat but this was later revised to a sledgehammer. The weight of the hammer made it difficult to cast the part of the runner until Major (a discus thrower) applied. Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_2. ... Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_2. ... Big Brother as portrayed in the BBCs 1954 production of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... TBWAChiatDay is the American division of the advertising agency TBWA Worldwide. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, County Durham) is an influential Academy Award-nominated English film director, and producer. ... Blade Runner is a 1982 cyberpunk, neo-noir film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. ... Lee Clow is currently the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of TBWAWorldwide. ... The Energizer Bunny is the marketing icon and mascot of Energizer batteries. ... The Taco Bell chihuahua. ... Skinheads, named after their cropped or shaven heads, are members of a working-class subculture that originated in Britain in the 1960s. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

It was shown to a large audience for the first time in October 1983, at Apple's annual sales conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Based on the reaction of the sales team and management reviews, Apple executives booked two television advertising slots during the upcoming Super Bowl. However, the Apple board of directors was dismayed by the ad and instructed management not to show it and sell the slots. Despite the board's dislike of the film, Steve Wozniak watched it and offered to pay for the spot personally if the board refused to air it. A perhaps apocryphal story has Apple able to sell only one slot and then deciding that they might as well use the other and show the ad.^{[citation needed]} In reality, the reason the commercial was saved from total cancellation was the result of an act of defiance and an act of bravado. According to the book The Mac Bathroom Reader by Owen Linzmayer: This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... For the city and county of Honolulu, see City & County of Honolulu. ... The winning Super Bowl team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy. ... In relation to a company, a director is an officer (that is, someone who works for the company) charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. ... Stephan Gary Woz Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is a U.S. computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc. ... Apocrypha (from the Greek word , meaning those having been hidden away[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. ...

The decision to run the commercial was left to VP of Marketing William V. Campbell and Executive VP of Marketing and Sales E. Floyd Kvamme. In the end, the two decided to run the commercial. It aired at the first commercial break after the second-half kick-off. Earl Floyd Kvamme (born 1938) is an American engineer, venture capitalist, and government advisor. ...

The sledgehammer (here blurred by motion) is thrown into the air at the screen by the allegorical heroine.

Despite costing $800,000 to make and a further $800,000 of air time, the film was originally shown nationally only once. However, it was aired on television one other time. From the book Apple Confidential: Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_5. ... Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_5. ... Apple Confidential was a document which detailed confidential Apple files. ...

Even with this limited appearance, the ad created such a media frenzy that it gained many subsequent free TV airings and print mentions as it was discussed in the media. At the time Nielsen ratings estimated that the commercial reached 46.4 percent of American households (50 percent of all men and 36 percent of women.) These tactics are part of what made the commercial so influential in marketing circles; it is now seen as the first example of event marketing, and is popularly credited with starting the trend of yearly "event" Super Bowl commercials. When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are often referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the audience size and composition of television programming. ...

Source material

Seconds later, the hammer hits and the screen explodes. The commercial cuts to another brief shot before continuing down the line of people gathered and projecting the announcers words, both onscreen and in the audio.

The commercial was influenced by the book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The dystopian future and the Big Brother figure both stem from this novel. Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_3. ... Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_3. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ... Big Brother as portrayed in the BBCs 1954 production of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ...

Setting

The heroine wears red shorts, red running shoes, a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple's Macintosh computer, and a white sweat band on her left wrist and a red one on her right. She is carrying a large sledgehammer and running quickly through a dystopian, industrial scene chased by four security guards, presumably agents of the Thought Police. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Sleeveless T-shirt. ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... A sledgehammer. ... OBrien (seen here played by André Morell in the 1954 television adaption), a secret Thought Police agent The Thought Police (thinkpol in Newspeak) is the secret police in George Orwells dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

The guards wear black, riot-police uniforms and helmets with visors covering their faces. They are armed with large night sticks. It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled Club (law enforcement). ...

She is running towards a large hall filled with people with shaved heads, wearing dusty coveralls, sitting on benches facing a large video screen. All the viewers appear to be male. At least one child is among the viewers. The word overall is also an adjective meaning above everything. Overalls are usually used as protective clothing when working, but they have sometimes been items of fashion. ...

On the screen, the giant image of Big Brother speaking in loud tones exhorts the audience to support his cause. Computer-generated text and numbers overlay his image.

Dialogue

The announcer's words appear, scrolling up the screen, as he says them.

"Big Brother": "Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"

Announcer: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984."

Apple later revised its style manual to refer to the computer with a definite article, for example, "the Macintosh". Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_4. ... Image File history File links Ad_apple_1984_4. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ...

Some sources quote the Big Brother dialogue as having an expanded introduction and other slight word changes. The alternate dialogue is listed below; however, the bolded text did not appear in the January 1984 version of the ad.

"My friends, each of you is a single cell in the great body of the State. And today, that great body has purged itself of parasites. We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts. The thugs and wreckers have been cast out. And the poisonous weeds of disinformation have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Let each and every cell rejoice! For [t]oday, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth. We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!""

Intended message

The commercial alludes to the growing market share of the IBM PC and IBM PC compatible, which grew from a 8.57% market share in 1982 to a 26.42% market share in 1983. Along with the popularity of the low-end Commodore 64, this eclipsed Apple's position, enjoyed up to 1982, as the market leader^[2]. The commercial played on the fears of IBM domination, and, by the mid-90s, the PC's market share was indeed over 97%, although the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) eventually exited from PC market^[3]. IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. ... IBM redirects here. ...

Influence

The commercial is frequently voted top in surveys of influential marketing campaigns. For example, Advertising Age named it the 1980s "Commercial of the Decade", and in 1999 the US TV Guide selected it as number one in their list of "50 Greatest Commercials of All Time". (TV Guide also listed the commercial as #93 on their list of The Best Moments in TV History; the only commercial on the list.) Advertising Age is a magazine, chronicling trends in advertisement. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... TV Guide is the name of two North American weekly magazines about television programming, one in the United States and one in Canada. ...

The film resurfaced in the late 1990s when Apple made a QuickTime version of the commercial available for download from the Internet. It appeared numerous times on television commercial compilation specials, as well as on Nick At Nite during its "Retromercial" breaks. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ... Nick-at-Nite (sometimes spelled Nick @ Nite, by its current logo) is the evening programming block broadcast over Nickelodeon Sunday–Thursdays from 9 PM–6 AM and Friday–Saturdays from 10 PM–6 AM Eastern and Pacific Standard Time. ...

At the 2004 MacWorld Expo, Steve Jobs commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh by starting his traditional keynote speech by playing an updated version of the "1984" commercial. In this updated version, an iPod, complete with signature white earbuds, was digitally added to the heroine. Attendees were given a poster showing the heroine with iPod as a commemorative gift. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld Conference & Expo is a trade show dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform with conference tracks occurring twice a year in the United States. ... Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and was the CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney. ... Steve Jobs at WWDC 2006 Stevenote is a slang term for keynote speeches by Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, generally given at Apple events such as the Macworld Expo, and the Apple Expo. ... iPod (fifth generation) in Apple Universal Dock, iPod nano (second generation) and iPod shuffle (second generation) iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched in 2001. ...

In popular culture

Mom, from Futurama, in a parody of the advertisement.

• Triumph of the Nerds, a 1996 documentary gives a history of the commercial and includes film clips of it.
• "We Be Clubbin'", a 1998 music video by Ice Cube from the soundtrack to the film The Players Club features a reenactment of the advertisement, with Ice Cube portraying both the runner and the Big Brother character.
• The 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley about the rise of the personal computer begins with Steve Jobs talking to Ridley Scott during filming of the commercial and includes film clips of the commercial.
• In the 1999 film Fight Club, one of Project Mayhem's acts of vandalism is the destruction of a display of Apple Macintosh computers at exactly 84 minutes into the film.
• The episode "Future Stock" from the third season of Futurama includes a parody of the commercial with Big Brother being replaced by Mom, from Mom's Friendly Delivery Service, with a modified speech containing statements such as "Our enemies shall be eaten by squirrels!" After the female runner smashes the giant television, one of the proles indignantly yells, "Hey, we were watching that!"
• In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, a 2006 video game, a radio commercial can be heard for a computer called the "Fruit LC", directly parodying the 1984 commercial.
• A 2007 commercial for the Tooth Tunes musical toothbrush clearly references the Apple Inc. advert.
• A song "Bill Gates komm fick mit mir" (Bill Gates come fuck with me) by German band Welle:Erdball samples the phrase "And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984"
• A parody of the commercial was released in 2006 to promote Barack Obama's presidential campaign, replacing Big Brother with Hillary Clinton.

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening, also the creator of The Simpsons, and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires is a documentary film written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... OShea Jackson (born June 15, 1969) better known by his stage name, Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor and film director. ... The Players Club was a 1998 comedy/drama film from New Line Cinema starring LisaRaye, Bernie Mac, Jamie Foxx, and Ice Cube. ... It has been suggested that Drama Documentary be merged into this article or section. ... Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) is an unauthorized made-for-television docudrama written and directed by Martyn Burke. ... Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and was the CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, County Durham) is an influential Academy Award-nominated English film director, and producer. ... Fight Club is a 1999 feature film adaptation of the 1996 novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, adapted by Jim Uhls and directed by David Fincher. ... Future Stock is the 21st episode in the third season of Futurama. ... Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening, also the creator of The Simpsons, and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... Mom in her first appearance, wearing her fatsuit and kindly public persona Mom is a fictional character and recurring antagonist on the animated series Futurama, voiced by Tress MacNeille. ... The Kiss Tooth Tunes toothbrush featuring Rock and Roll All Nite Tooth Tunes is a childrens toothbrush released by the Tiger Electronics division of Hasbro in 2007. ... For other persons named Bill Gates, see Bill Gates (disambiguation). ... Hillary 1984 is the title of the viral video that combines the footage of the 2008 presidential campaign web announcement by Hillary Clinton with the 1984 Super Bowl commercial by Apple Inc. ... Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party. ... Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947), was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton. ...

References

• Lee Clow's page about the 1984 ad - Creative Director for Chiat/Day advertising agency at the time.
• Folklore.org: 1984, how the famous commercial almost got canceled.
• "The Mac Bathroom Reader: The 1984 Apple Commercial (The Making of a Legend)" by Owen Linzmayer
• Apple's 1984: The Introduction of the Macintosh in the Cultural History of Personal Computers
• 'The "1984" Macintosh Ad' by Sarah R. Stein
• Curt's Media: The Apple 1984 commercial
• CNN article

1. ^ Google Answers article #741952
2. ^ Personal Computer Market Share: 1975-2004.
3. ^ Musthaler, Linda. "IBM PC sale makes sense", Network World, January 24, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-02-04. 

is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

1984 commercial

• 2 MB (also here)
• 13 MB (also here and here)
• 17.5 MB
• Behind the scenes
• The "Making of 1984" TV ad
• Mac Essentials "Lost 1984 Videos"
• YouTube - "Apple's 1984 Commercial" the 2004 MacWorld Expo version (with iPod)