Greatest (Tech) Ad Ever?

Show it to an ad newbie and they will wonder what the fuss is about. The minute-long ad begins with a number of similarly dressed and similar looking people staring at a screen, which shows a bespectacled person speaking to them in an authoritative manner. Suddenly, a young girl in a white vest and red shorts runs into the room, carrying a hammer and pursued by guards. She flings the hammer at the screen, shattering it, and leaving the audience shocked.

At the end of all this, a message appears: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."" That's it. There are no notable words spoken - the 'leader' on screen refers to the "first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives" but his speech is a little garbled. There are no celebrities. Even the product is not shown. What's so great then? Actually, a whole lot.

The Macintosh was Apple's most high-profile launch and was a potentially revolutionary device. It was colourful and had a very different interface from routine computers. Apple could have chosen to simply speak of its features. Instead, it opted to compare the current computer market with George Orwell's world of "1984," where uniformity is the rule and everyone obeys a dictatorial Big Brother. And it portrayed industry leader, IBM, as Big Brother!

The ad's message was simple - the current computer market is basically boring and monotonous, with one brand dictating everything. The use of Orwell's 1984 imagery might seem odd today, but it was very powerful in the Cold War era, where Big Brother and a controlled world and people were similar to Communism! The athletic girl with the hammer is a flash of rebellious colour that challenges and destroys authority. The room is IBM. She is Macintosh.

The ad made the Macintosh much more than a computer that looked and worked differently. It was presented like a tool of revolution - a thought that appealed to the American ethos. It also presented the computer as a tool of freedom, rather than enslavement (as seen in many sci-fi films!) While there were no major celebrities in the ad, it was directed by Ridley Scott, famous for 'Blade Runner.' It was made on a tight budget - USD 2,50,000!

Almost 40 years after it was first aired, 1984 is still considered to be one of the greatest ads of all time,. Not too many know, however, that while Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple's founders loved the ad, the company's board hated it. There was even talk of selling its time spots! We can see their point - no talk of product, no celebs, no hard sell, no witty dialogue...just a scene from a literary classic everyone had heard of but few had read.