Apple's 1985 Ad Disaster!

Lemmings was an ad that was released in 1985 to announce the launch of Macintosh Office, an office computing platform which had Macintosh computers, a local area networking (LAN) system, a file server, and a networked laser printer. Macintosh Office was about bringing the Macintosh experience to an enterprise, which was largely controlled by IBM. So it was not surprising that Apple used an approach that was similar to the epic Macintosh ad.

Like in the 1984 ad, Apple decided to use an apocalyptic scenario, and steering clear of very vivid colours, representing boringuniformity. Instead of drone-like people sitting in a room, staring at a screen, the ad showed a line of corporate executives, with blue blindfolds (IBM was called 'Big Blue', remember?), walking behind each other to the tune of "Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work we go," and then falling off a precipice, one by one. Just like lemmings.

A voiceover announces "On January 23, Apple Computers= will announce Macintosh Office." Hearing this, the last executive in the line stops at the edge of the precipice,. He lifts his blindfold slightly, and peers through it, as the Voiceover says "You can look into it." He sees the precipice in front of him, he looks behind him to see another line of blindfolded executives on its way. "Or you can go on with business as usual," the Voiceover concludes.

The core idea was simple - if you did not go with Apple, you were committing suicide by staying with IBM . As with the 1984 ad, Apple first screened at the Super Bowl. But unlike that ad which was greeted by applause, this one did not seem to strike a chord with the audience, which was largely subdued. The ad was heavily criticised, mainly because many felt that it ridiculed the customers. The product itself's getting delayed did not help matters!