JGA%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (01/25/84)
From: John G. Aspinall <JGA @ MIT-MC> Would anyone else like to comment on the Apple Macintosh commercial shown during the third quarter of the Super Bowl? I thought it was a gripping visceral 60 seconds of SF, and extremely effective. The Boston Globe reports (not surprisingly) that it was directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner). In case you missed it, it showed a large auditorium filled with zombie-like people with shaved heads, dressed in grey. They are staring at a "Big Brother" figure displayed on a screen who is lecturing them along the lines of "we control the information...". Into the hall runs a blonde woman, dressed in bright red, with police-types chasing her. Before the police get to her, she whirls a sledgehammer around her head and hurls it through the screen. The screen explodes in a blast of light. Then the voice-over explains that Macintosh is coming etc., and 1984 won't be like '1984'. At first I thought the commercial was an ad for a new SF movie. But the one scene went on for too long - movie ads tend to cut among many scenes. My next thought was the Olympics - athletes preserving our freedom etc. But that didn't fit either - Big Brother was wired on a different track. Once the Apple name appeared, it all clicked - if the young woman is Apple, what other computer manufacturer is Big Brother? The deduction - IBM - was almost instantaneous. Did anyone else have this immediate reaction? Did Apple tap a lot of subliminal feelings or is this only the reaction of the computer sophisticates? Has SF produced an archetype? John Aspinall.
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (01/26/84)
I think that Apple's belief as to who 'Big Brother' really is can be deduced from where the ad was shown. With the exception of the single nationwide ad (on the Superbowl show) that ad showed regionally in the 14 largest markets in the country and Boca Raton, Florida (home of the PC group of IBM). Gives you (and them) somthing to think about.... chuq -- From the house at Pooh Corner: Chuq (a Silly Old Bear) {fortune,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui have you hugged your Pooh today? The difficult we gave up on yesterday, the impossible we are giving up on now.
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (01/26/84)
Well, yes it's a brilliant commercial that is probably clear to anyone interested in purchasing either brand. And, yes they may have created an instant archtype. But look at the brilliant archtype they are up against - good old Charlie Chaplin, the antithesis of the machine age man. I always wondered why smart old IBL** chose such a clod-type character (other than to sell computers, I mean). Now I can see that through superior industrial espionage they could see the Apple commercial coming and got there first with the counter: If you are too inept to package a cake or a hat, an IBM-pc will make you rich overnight. -Dick Grantges hound!rfg ** This freudian slip was just too good for me to correct.