"1984" is an American television commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas, and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. The ad was a reference to George Orwell's noted 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother". English athlete Anya Major performed as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as Big Brother.[1] In the US, it first aired in 10 local outlets,[2] including Twin Falls, Idaho, where Chiat/Day ran the ad on December 31, 1983, at the last possible break before midnight on KMVT, so that the advertisement qualified for the 1984 Clio Awards.[3][4][5] Its second televised airing, and only US national airing, was on January 22, 1984, during a break in the third quarter of CBS's telecast of Super Bowl XVIII.[6]
In one interpretation of the commercial, "1984" used the unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white tank top with a stylized line drawing of Apple’s Macintosh computer on it) as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" (Big Brother).[7]
Originally a subject of contention within Apple, it has subsequently been called a watershed event[8] and a masterpiece[9] in advertising. In 1995, the Clio Awards added it to its Hall of Fame, and Advertising Age placed it on the top of its list of 50 greatest commercials.
Plot
The commercial opens with a dystopian, industrial setting in blue and grayish tones, showing a line of people marching in unison through a long tunnel monitored by a string of telescreens. This is in sharp contrast to the full-color shots of the nameless runner (Anya Major). She looks like a competitive track and field athlete, wearing an athletic outfit (red athletic shorts, running shoes, a white tank top with a cubist picture of Apple's Macintosh computer, a white sweat band on her left wrist, and a red one on her right), and is carrying a large brass-headed sledgehammer.[10] Rows of marching bald grey-clad workers evoke scenes from Metropolis.
As she is chased by four men, presumably agents of the Thought Police, wearing black uniforms, protected by riot gear, helmets with visors covering their faces, and armed with large night sticks, she races towards a large screen with the image of a Big Brother-like figure (David Graham, also seen on the telescreens earlier) giving a speech:
"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 of any contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thoughts 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!"
Production
Development
The commercial was created by the advertising agency Chiat/Day, of Venice, California, with copy by Steve Hayden,[11] art direction by Brent Thomas, and creative direction by Lee Clow.[12] The commercial "grew out of an abandoned print campaign" with a specific theme:[2] "'[T]here are monster computers lurking in big business and big government that know everything from what motels you've stayed at to how much money you have in the bank. But at Apple we're trying to balance the scales by giving individuals the kind of computer power once reserved for corporations.'"
Ridley Scott – whose dystopian sci-fi film Blade Runner had been released one and a half years prior – was hired by agency producer Richard O'Neill to direct it. Less than two months after the Super Bowl airing,
Reception and legacy
Art director Brent Thomas said Apple "had wanted something to 'stop America in its tracks, to make people think about computers, to make them think about Macintosh.' With about $3.5 million worth of Macintoshes sold just after the advertisement ran, Thomas judged the effort 'absolutely successful.' 'We also set out to smash the old canard that the computer will enslave us,' he said. 'We did not say the computer will set us free—I have no idea how it will work out. This was strictly a marketing position.[2]
The estate of George Orwell and the television rightsholder to the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four considered the commercial to be copyright infringement and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Apple and Chiat/Day in April 1984.[21]
Awards
It ranked at number 38 in Channel 4's 2000 list of the "100 Greatest TV Ads".[26]
See also
- Lemmings (advertisement), the follow-up advert
- Think Different, an Apple advertising slogan
- Get a Mac, television advertising campaign
- List of Super Bowl commercials
Further reading
External links
References
- David Graham. David's film appearances David Graham Official Site, retrieved 28 July 2015^
- David Burnham. The Computer, the Consumer and Privacy The New York Times, March 4, 1984, retrieved January 24, 2014^
- Philip H. Dougherty. ADVERTISING; Ally & Gargano Prevails At Clio Awards Again