You almost never saw Apple’s ‘1984,’ the most famous Super Bowl ad of all time
Still from Apple’s “1984” television ad
The most famous, and arguably the best, Super Bowl ad in history, Apple’s “1984” ad for the Macintosh, was nearly killed by Apple’s then-CEO John Sculley and the Board of Directors.
The spot helped to change not just how people thought about having a computer in their homes, but it also changed the way the nation’s top companies thought about advertising during the Super Bowl.
But Apple’s board of directors hated the 1984 ad, according to some of the ad executives who worked on the campaign. It didn’t show the computer it was ostensibly about, unlike most ads that try to show the product they’re hyping. And Apple’s board wasn’t very happy. Most ads didn’t seek to remind people of a dark world urging conformity.
They hated it so much, in fact, that they ordered the agency that made it, ChiatDay, to sell off the time they had already purchased on that year’s Super Bowl, rather than run the ad.
“Everyone loved it until we showed it to the board,” said Lee Clow, who was one of the executives who created the iconic ad. He said that Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, largest individual shareholder and the driving creative force behind Apple products, was fully supportive of the ad that never showed the product…
So the agency and Jobs worked together to make sure it got on that year’s Super Bowl, days ahead of the product’s introduction, despite the opposition from CEO John Scully and the board.
“We kind of conspired to not sell [the already purchased air time] so we could run it one time” Clow said. “We got a pretty big impact just running it once.”
MacDailyNews Take: John Sculley. Ay yi yi.
Bonus video:
Steve Jobs unveils the famous ‘1984″ Apple commercial directed by Ridley Scott:
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