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Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer (HD)

Robert Cole (RobertKCole)Cited 8× on HN, 2017–2023
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other · general · evergreen · 2017–2023 on HN

The famous 1984 Apple Macintosh Super Bowl commercial, directed by Ridley Scott and based on Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It casts the Mac as a force freeing individuals from a Big Brother figure, widely read as aimed at IBM.

Cited as the standard example of a hugely effective emotional ad that sold a brand image rather than product details.

8 comments from Hacker News

@Lio2023-12 · in “Show HN: Why is the Amiga so beloved in the demoscene? (2023 essay)”

> It's the ancestor of "Mac vs PC". That's an odd turn of phrase considering that both the Mac and the PC predate the Amiga. If anything surely the Mac's Ridley Scott directed launch Super Bowl ad was the start of "Mac vs PC". People loved the Amiga because it had a lot of modern features for the time and was reasonably priced. You're definitely right, it's the little computer that could. The demo scene loved the Amiga because a lot of hardware features were left undocumented ready for you to discover and wow your friends with. ▶ this video

@iSnow2021-10 · in “Richard Feynman and the Connection Machine (1989)”

>that people in 1985 were having the exact same discussions we are today about the computer and it's effect on privacy with respect to "big brother" and the totalitarian government's obsession with collecting information on people. Sure did, the 1970's and early 1980's were the birth time of the computer privacy movement. That's where the iconic Apple commercial has its background: ▶ this video Of course, today everyone is spending their time enjoying indoctrination in front of a miniature Apple screen instead of getting called into a center...

@jedberg2020-08 · in “Apple removes Fortnite from App Store after Epic attempts to bypass fees”

Here's the short they just released making fun of Apple's 1984 commercial: link Edit: The youtube comments are hilarious because no one knows what it's a spoof of. For those who don't know: ▶ this video

@pseudolus2019-06 · in “'1984' at Seventy: Why We Still Read Orwell”

One of the fascinating things about '1984' is that in the actual year 1984 the book, which did receive some notable publicity that year, was perceived as being something of a 'dud'. Not that people perceived that they were living in surveillance-free society but rather at that time people were more preoccupied with nuclear war (anyone remember "The Day After"? [0]) and the tools that would bring about an oppressive environment were still in the imaginations of technologists. Strangely enough Apple, with its 1984 type commercial, was one of the few companies that really went all in on the 1984 anniversary [1]. [0] link [1] ▶ this video

@phobosdeimos2018-09 · in “Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration”

Choice is bad. Anyone remember the 1980s Apple commercial referencing Big Brother? Hilarious in hindsight. ▶ this video