Apple’s “1984”
In 1984, Apple was preaching about the relative uniformity of competing computer companies like IBM. This commercial—dubbed “1984″ after George Orwell’s novel—is about bucking trends and refusing to conform to the status quo. It introduced the Apple Macintosh computer, an iconic piece of hardware that helped kick off the personal computer revolution and move desktop publishing into the mainstream.
The ad was created by Steve Hayden and Lee Clow at advertising agency Chiat/Day, and directed by Ridley Scott, the auteur behind films including Alien and Blade Runner. Apple spent $1.5 million on it, but it was so edgy and different the company’s board of directors initially did not want to run it; Steve Jobs had to use all his Reality Distortion Field powers to get them to approve.
