Why 1984 wasn't like "1984"

Original Apple Mac

In one of the readings for today’s class, Matthew P. McAlister describes the impact of Apple’s “1984” commercial broadcast during the 1984 Superbowl (220) in his article entitled Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems. He defines this commercial as the first ever “event commercial” (220).

The impact of this commercial is hard to understand in an era where we are bombarded with commercial messages from everywhere, and where computers seem to be dominating everything. But in 1984, the Internet was still a text-only based precursor of its current self. Everyone had home entertainment systems built around their TV’s, not their computers. In thirty-one years since then, all that has changed. This type of commercial would never have the same dramatic impact today.

The paid commercial was only run once during Superbowl, but it became a news item and the "1984 commercial" was shown repeatedly at no cost to Apple on news broadcasts around the world. It is still available on YouTube (which also did not exist in 1984) and currently shows over 10 million hits.

The impact of the ad was the genesis of recognition for Apple as a serious company and it had a profound impact on the way people thought about computer products. For the first time a company was supplying a computer that was not mostly text-based, like the MS-DOS or Windows 3 computers that other manufacturers, including IBM, were offering at the time. It had a black and white screen (colour screens were an option the next year), instead of the green on black or orange on black screens that were typical of other systems including the Apple II. The commercial emphasized difference, and people flocked to the stores attracted to the promise of a computer that was easy to use and that everyone could afford. It wasn't long before Microsoft brought out newer versions of Windows to resemble the Apple graphic user interface, which has evolved into the versions of Windows we see today.

In 1985, Apple tried to create another Super Bowl commercial sequel called “Lemmings”. That one too is still available on YouTube. This time the commercial failed miserably and attracted a lot of negative press versus the all positive reactions to “1984”. The commercial essentially showed thousands of blindfolded persons being lead off a cliff to their deaths as they chose PC’s versus choosing Mac’s. From a public relations standpoint, the commercial was a disaster and Apple had to go into defensive mode. Apple didn’t air another SuperBowl commercial until 1999.

TV advertising, and now Internet advertising, can be powerful tools, but they can also lead to disastrous mistakes. When they work, the advertiser will reap the rewards of increased sales and more loyal customers. But when they fail, just the opposite may happen. In the case of Apple, the company was able to recover eventually although it happened slowly. During that painful transition, Steve Jobs was fired and John Scully, who came from Pepsi Cola, took the reins. Without any knowledge of computers or the passion of Steve Jobs, he almost destroyed the company. Eventually the board of directors, after firing Scully,  wisely brought back Jobs to begin rebuilding the company and today it is the largest company in the World.

These two ads clearly show the importance of advertising with the first one having a massive positive effect and the second one just the opposite. In 1984, I was so impressed with the Superbowl commercial and the Apple Macintosh I bought 100 shares of the company for just over $3,000. I sold the stock in disgust when Jobs was fired. If I had kept those shares, with stock splits I would now own 2,800 shares and the value of my investment would be worth as much as $400,000, based on recent stock prices. And it all started with one SuperBowl advertisement in 1984.

Works Cited

"Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube.08 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSnW-ygU5g&feature=youtu.be>.

McAllister, Matthew A. “Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems.” A Companion to Television. Ed. Janet Wasko. Malden MA USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 220. Print.

“Apple Lemmings Commercial”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Oct 2015. <https://youtu.be/V-SJQdREDKM>.

“Lemmings (advertisement).” Wikipedia. Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(advertisement)>