Apple’s 1984 ad was perhaps the company’s greatest marketing triumph of the 1980s. In one fell swoop, it captured the imagination of the world, won multiple awards and put Apple front and centre of the personal computer revolution. In an attempt to repeat that success, it ran another ad a year later called Lemmings. It signalled the beginning of Apple’s decline.
1984 – A triumph
In 1983, Steve Jobs commissioned Ridley Scott to create an ad for the Apple Macintosh. That 60-second ad, filmed in drab tones, portrayed a world ruled by a dictator talking to the masses from a massive screen – reminiscent of George Orwell’s infamous Big Brother. As the voice speaks, a woman dressed in a bright white tank top and red shorts, runs towards the screen wielding a sledgehammer.
As she approaches, she hurls the sledgehammer at the screen, destroying it, as the speaker on the screen proclaims “We shall prevail”.
At the time, Apple’s fiercest rival was IBM. And while it was never mentioned, the symbolism of the ad was clear. IBM represented a world devoid of imagination. People were drones, following ‘corporate’ directives. The voiceover from Big Brother sounded an ominous message.
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 purveying 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!
The ad was aired twice – once on late night TV on a regional US TV station where the odds of it being seen were very small and once during the 1984 Super Bowl. It needed to be aired more than once to be eligible for the many awards it eventually won.
Lemmings – The onset of decline
A year later, Apple tried to repeat that success with another ad, titled Lemmings.
Unlike 1984, which heralded the huge announcement of the new Apple Macintosh, Lemmings was made to showcase Macintosh Office – an interconnected system of computers, file servers and networking that was meant to compete with the IBM (and IBM compatible) stranglehold on corporate computing.
The ad was produced by advertising agency Chiat/Day and directed by Tony Scott. Tony’s brother, Ridley Scott, declined an invitation to produce the new ad.
The discordant soundtrack, a drab version of the famed Disney song “Heigh-Ho” from Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, and was filmed in the same muted tones as the 1984 ad. It featured a procession of blindfolded people, dressed in grey suits walking to a cliff side and stepping into oblivion, much like the story of lemmings which pop culture says is what they do.
The last person in the procession of seemingly suicidal office workers stop, removes his blindfold and assesses the scene.
The voiceover announces:
On January 23rd Apple Computer will announce the Macintosh Office. You can look into it, or you can go on with business as usual.
Unlike the 1984 ad, Macintosh Office was not ready to ship with parts of the package not delivered for another two years. And there was widespread criticism that they ad suggested office workers were thoughtless drones.
The return of Steve Jobs – Think Different and beyond
When Steve Jobs was removed from Apple in 1985, the company struggled for many years. The Macintosh Office was a flop, Macintosh sales were down (which was one reason Jobs clashed with his board) and the succession of new CEOs struggled to recapture Apple’s market cachet and spirit. It wasn’t until the “Think Different” campaign launched after Job’s return that Apple started to rise again.
It was another 14 years after Lemmings until Apple placed another ad during the Super Bowl – its famed Hal ad in 1999 which poked fun at the Year 2000 bug that many computers suffered at the time.
In the years after Hal, Apple had great success with the iconography that supported the iPod – bright backgrounds, black silhouettes and white headphones.
And the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” captured plenty of eyeballs as well.
These days, Apple is a far more ‘corporate’ organisation and seems less likely to try edgy or provocative advertising. But that reflects the less mercurial style of Tim Cook. Perhaps his successor will have a more adventurous spirit.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.