1984 – Apple Macintosh Commercial

Does 1984 remind you about the favorite novel written by George Orwell? Well that's not what I'm exactly going to talk about. But this is about the favorite television commercial by Apple computers which based on the so called book. If you can remember, the novel 1984 depicts a time where world is governed by three superpower holders (superstates) after a global atomic war. And the government maintain a pervasive surveillance, and incessant public mind control to control the information and stop civilians standing against them. And finally the symbol of the book – "Big brother", the dictator of the Oceania (which is one of the previously called states) controls and decides everything the public must know. People are constantly being reminded of him by displaying "Big Brother is watching you"

Back to the commercial (arguably, this is one of the ever best television commercials about a computer), this "1984 TV commercial" is made by Apple computers for introducing their apple Macintosh personal computer. The plot of the commercial is a heroine (starred by: Anya Major) standing against the Big Brother to rescue people. Commercial begins with people marching to listen to a speech delivered by the "Big Brother". Big brother is doing his speech through a large television screen;

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 contradictory and confusing truths. 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!

Right now, heroine run towards the big screen and throws a large hammer and destroys the screen, literally making people free from the big brother and from the restrictions of the government.




The intended message of this commercial could be, influencing the public with the idea of personal computer, which is a revolution that could change the way world is going and also to give the feeling that Apple will free the people from limitations of computing. It might also intend of showing the fight for the control of computer technology as a struggle of the few against the many.

Anyway most people make a common mistake by thinking the Big Brother represented here is "Microsoft", but by that time Apple's main competitor was IBM.

However this commercial was released on, December 31, 1983 and January 22, 1984 only as daytime television broadcast. But yet this is considered as a masterpiece in advertising.