We are going to tweak the rule that all our selections are from 1984 onwards. The fact is that this iconic 1984 ad first ran on 31 December 1983, on a few local TV stations. That was just so it could qualify for an awards show. But really it was destined for 22 January 1984, with just one airing in the third ad break of the Super Bowl.
That single airing is explained by the endline: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.”
Agency: Chiat\Day
Creative Direction: Lee Clow
Art Direction: Brent Thomas
Copywriter: Steve Hayden
Production Company: RSA
Director: Ridley Scott
"This positioned the brand as a revolutionary force against conformity, embodied by IBM. It redefined brand storytelling by moving away from traditional, product-focused advertising and instead created a cinematic, dystopian narrative that resonated deeply with the cultural fears of the time."
- Cristina Reina, Chief Creative Officer, Quality Experience, New York
Even that one showing nearly didn’t happen. The Apple board apparently hated the scary dystopian film that co-founder Steve Jobs had encouraged Chiat\ Day to come up with. They wanted the ad slots sold off and the film axed. But through some ruses, it went ahead – just the one showing. The rest is history and this spot is undoubtedly one of the most iconic films, whether you rate it as up there with the greatest or not. It lasted and grew huge in reputation. That’s undoubtedly helped by hindsight: the film, which was a veiled attack on the Big Brother figure of IBM and a massive claim to be about to revolutionise computing … Well, it kind of came true. Not in one year, or even one decade. But Apple ultimately became, for a while, the world’s most valuable company, in danger of being more the dictator on the screen than the outsider challenging orthodoxy.
It’s perhaps best enjoyed as a fine piece of Ridley Scott film craft. Shot in the UK, the director, with a very stretched budget, apparently hired local skinheads to fill out the mass rank of compliant drones in the audience. For what seems quite a maximum big budget experience, a closer look reveals it to be seemingly quite a minimalist shoot.
