When: Jan. 23rd, 2024 1:46 AM EST
Medium: Television
Show Name: Superbowl
Season: XVIII
Episode: Single
Episode Name: Apple’s 1984 Superbowl Commercial
Network: CBS
Actors/Actresses: n/a
First Aired or Released: Jan. 22th, 1984

The Original Commercial:

Forward from YouTube poster “Delegator Inc“, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIE-5hg7FoA:

NOTE: the Apple 1984 piece starts at 0:09 – we wanted to show it in context of Super Bowl XVIII. This video was recorded on our CEO’s parents’ VCR on January 22, 1984, the 30th anniversary of Apple’s iconic MacIntosh 1984 ad, directed by Ridley Scott, and aired during Super Bowl XVIII. Midway through the 3rd quarter, the broadcast cut to a commercial, the screen momentarily went dark, and what aired next became part of marketing and tech history. In this previously unreleased home recording, this iconic moment was captured. Because we knew our fellow Apple fan boys & girls would appreciate it, we dug through our old tapes, digitized them, and zeroed in on the iconic ad – nestled within a little Super Bowl context – for your enjoyment, love and hate. It features Ridley Scott as director, Anya Major as the hammer-thrower, and a likely IBM as Big Brother (later replaced by Microsoft, later the NSA). Many consider it an advertising masterpiece and watershed event. Steve Jobs was fired a year later. The iconic advertisement wasn’t the only unexpected thing that happened on that day 30 years ago. The other was seeing the Los Angeles Raiders’ Marcus Allen, Howie Long, and Lyle Alzado roll over the Washington Redskins’ Joe Theismann, Art Monk and John Riggins. The game was announced by Pat Summerall and John Madden (coach of the Super-Bowl champ Oakland Raiders), and the upset was so surprising, and such a beat-down, that the day was called “Black Sunday”.

The 1984 commercial re-rendered and up-scaled in high quality.

Any text, or media referencing the described medium above in any manner, shape or form is ©1984 Apple Computer, Inc. or copyright by the content creators referenced in their corresponding contribution(s) above.

My Comments:

1984 wasn’t quite like the book, and it took some time before the PC business took off. 1984 changed everything from Football, entertainment, productivity, business, and technology in our every day lives. The original 1984 ad, aired just once. 1984, in 2004?, in 2024? Exactly. Write up and media forthcoming.