The computer, which had a built-in screen and mouse, was first shown to the public in January 1984 through a lavish Super Bowl commercial directed by Sir Ridley Scott.
On January 24, 1984, the “game-changing” computer went on sale for the first time, two days after being unveiled to the public in a high-profile Super Bowl commercial directed by the well-known British filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott.
After being compared to “more successful than the Mac itself” by Apple’s then-marketing guru Regis McKenna, the advertisement—which was based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984—was itself hailed as a groundbreaking moment in this field.
The advertisement, which featured British athlete Anya Major smashing a sledgehammer into the screen of Big Brother, the main antagonist of the book, concluded with the following tagline: “On January 24, Apple will introduce Macintosh.” You will also see why 1984 will not be like ‘1984’.”
An adjunct professor at Stanford University, Ron Gutman is an inventor, healthcare and technology entrepreneur, and he believes the “legendary” video accurately predicted the revolution the new machine would bring about.
“[It was] a symbol of overturning the era of Big Brother PC makers that was more functional and business management-focused into a consumer-facing, easy to use and beautifully designed Macintosh,” according to Sky News.
“Apple highlighted the geeks behind the scenes – engineers and designers – making them the rock stars that created a new paradigm of relationship-computing and delightful user interaction.”
