The year is 1984; We are in a period when people do not need computers and even fear them. Apple, on the other hand, is about to introduce its new computer, the Macintosh, which is aimed at everyone’s home. But there is only one problem: People often do not take something they are afraid of. However, Apple manages to persuade 200,000 people to its stores with a single advertisement it publishes.
For anything to be the best in the world, it must be evaluated impartially. The world’s best in advertising may be Apple’s Macintosh ad, which was published 37 years ago, in 1984. Only the product is introduced January 20, 1984 on published once this movie got tens of thousands of computer-haters flocking to the store.
We will tell you what makes this commercial important, how it goes beyond a company or a product and creates a revolution. However, all these evaluate according to current conditions error happens. It goes back a little, we understand the conditions of that day.
In 1984, when the ad was published, the technology sector was as follows:
- Founded in 1911, IBM was the largest company in the world.
- Among the people, IBM’s nickname was Big Blue.
- Apple was a small company 8 years ago, and its only product was a personal computer.
- Although a small company, Apple has made IBM the largest and most important
- For humans, computers were not a personal tool, but a terrifying technology. Therefore, it was not preferred.
- Let alone every house, every school and institution did not have a computer.
- The Internet was yet, like quantum computers, only known to very few people, it had no users.
- Phones, on the other hand, consisted of screenless and wired devices that we only used at home.
- The most common mass media was television.
After failing with the Lisa computer model developed by Apple, Steve Jobs developed a new computer called Macintosh, but this time he did not want to fail. To break people’s fear of technology so that they can sell more computers, it was necessary to persuade them to innovate. For this, he had to come up with a shocking plan.
According to Steve Jobs, IBManti-freedom sovereign who wants to own everything, trying to take over arms and industry’ It was a company. According to this definition of Jobs, IBM, popularly known as Big Blue, owns everything in George Orwell’s 1984 book. Big Brother resembled his character. An ingenious commercial came to Jobs’ mind. So the people they want to sell their computers to buy IBM now. Big Blue they would recognize him as Big Brother.
Director of science fiction films such as Alien and Blade Runner Ridley Scott agreement was made with The book Nineteen Eighty-Four was taken as reference. The commercial film was completed with a total cost of 2 million dollars.
Apple’s 1984 Macintosh ad:
Turkish translation of the words expressed in the video:
The scary man appeals to people:
“Today, we celebrate the first excellent year of the Information Purification Directive.”
- Meanwhile, the woman in red shorts and a hammer is chased by the leader’s guards.
“For the first time in history, we have created a garden of pure ideology where every worker can be refreshed and blossomed, protected from the pests of contradictory real thoughts.”
“The consensus we’ve built is a more powerful weapon than any navy or army in the world.”
“We are all one person, one will, one solution, one cause.”
“We will bury our enemies in their own confusion. We will prevail!”
- The woman in the red shorts throws the hammer, the screen explodes, the leader’s speech and the ad ends with these sentences:
“Apple Computer will announce the Mac on January 24, and you’ll understand why 1984 won’t be like 1984.”
Which character represents whom in the ad?
The sporty woman in red shorts in the ad represents Apple, and the hammer she carries represents Apple’s innovation. The man who called everyone on giant screens On the other hand, in Orwell’s book, Big Brother is the only authority that controls everything. All other people have a uniform mindset. Apple arrives, launches the hammer that represents innovation, breaks tradition that is frightening, and the dystopian order ends. Now is the time when people can think differently and freely and make peace with technology, according to Apple.
What did Apple achieve after this ad?
Full after commercial aired during sporting events across the US where the public is locked into television 200,000 people flocked to Apple’s stores. The Macintosh, which had a tag of $2,495 with the economy of the day, was the first 72,000 units in 100 days sold it.
Today, Apple is in a position that IBM criticized in those years as the most valuable company in the world. Thanks to the strategy put forward by Steve Jobs, technology; It is seen as a concept that should be loved and used, not feared, but a symbol of freedom. So who is Big Brother today?