Apple 1984 Ad Commercial - Original Recording from The Day It First Aired

[@MMAGamblingTips]

This is some of the best quality recording from the early 80s I have ever seen. To come from a pre-1984 model VCR and then be transferred to digital and not lose much quality is astounding. This was an expensive VCR with equally expensive video tape’s.

[@mysty042]

wondering if it was beta

[@joshuanielson390]

My grandfather worked for Sears and consequently we always had Betamax recordings and movies around the house, even well after everything transitioned to VHS. The quality here could only come from a Beta machine and tapes. We would go back and forth on the same TV set from Beta to VHS and the quality was dramatically better, even with the same television and recording source.

[@whalers59]

@@joshuanielson390 That is very cool insight, thank you. It seems it was a shame Betamax wasn't the successor.

[@anniedowling1762]

Beta RIP.

[@christianleblanc2842]

I saw this live, and remembered it vividly for years before being able to see it again on the net. Head and shoulders above any other commercial even until today.

[@nabilion]

Have you seen a Carlton Draught ad?

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

@@nabilion The Carlton Draught ad is clever and hilarious. But this one has a more powerful punch to it that makes the audience feel as if what they're watching is hugely important. Both work great in their own ways.

[@sexobscura]

*Well, after all, the POWER of advertising is its IMPACT on the memory*

[@Clawdeena9]

The irony lol

[@JohnnY-md2cm]

clawdeena9 a so pink leaf isn’t verified but you are

[@tinkersmiles1713]

Omg wassup queen 💅

[@pandgumtwo8893]

Verified

[@HozBEFOREHoes]

clawdeena9 Free Fortnite 😡

[@Riku-uh6cd]

本物で草

[@MinifigNewsguy]

Thank you for providing visual context of how this aired. Little would people know the world would change after that break.

[@retrobat1631]

Watching this after the Fortnite event. They really went into detail for this.

[@officialvillalobos2]

same dude

[@Jpo2564]

I watched the youtube vid but yeah

[@btg_trapzz5109]

Fr

[@N1nsoka]

same

[@itzvin_chaskin]

I’m a mobile player

[@Ultraice98]

Heyyy We were watching that.

[@DDRhappiness17]

Lol someone had to say it

[@Poopfingers345]

Futurama hahaha

[@yogidabruh9050]

I came for this. 😂

[@michaelschlueb2286]

PLANEX

[@deeaniyah]

Yesss

[@nosaltadded2530]

1984 won't be like 1984. You'll have to wait a few more decades for that to happen. Welcome to 2020.

[@michaelmoser4537]

And Apple brought us the iphone as the tracking device, they started with '1984', but later gave us the televisor tracking device from Orwell's book. The irony...

[@stefantsarev4442]

2022 is worse. Apple now wants to ban Twitter because it would allow freedom of speech.

[@UnchainedEruption]

@@michaelmoser4537 What is so puzzling to me about "tracking" in today's world is how voluntary it is. I remember not too long ago when there was a lot of controversy and backlash towards the Patriot Act following 9/11 and during the War on Terror, because the government might wiretap your phone conversations. Today people put far much more personal information up online all the time where anybody with an internet connection can access for free, of their own free will. Tech companies somehow convinced people, in one short decade, to voluntarily give away all the privacy and freedom which for decades we vowed not to let the government rob us of.

[@JudgeHolden2003]

Its nowhere near as bad Now as It is in 1984

[@mrsillytacos]

​@@JudgeHolden2003yeah lmao these guys will literally say "literally 1984" because they dont get 1 extra dollar in a tax return.

[@alitlweird]

this aged well.

[@soylentteal]

It's often said that this ad ran only once on TV, but not so: It was shown about one month earlier on station KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, just before the station signed off (I bet some here don't remember when local stations went off the air for the night.). This was to make it eligible for advertising awards for 1983. It also debuted in movie theaters on January 17th and ran for several weeks.

[@kascnef]

Seventh Mist was it in stereo

[@intiorozco5063]

So there's a film version somewhere that could be transferred to 4K? Interesting.

[@SmallPersonRoo]

@@intiorozco5063yes. It was shot on film. A film print was on eBay not too long ago

[@Thattgirl6789]

This commercial is so eerie

[@dobbins2550]

Awesome, this is exactly what I was looking for, the actual airing of this commercial.

[@alexkelly6449]

Fun fact: the guy who plays big brother was one of the first people to voice a dalek in doctor who

[@brentmann2988]

The great Ed Grover on the voice-over. You'll also know his voice from this iconic tagline: "Visa... it's everywhere you want to be." Apple, Visa, Nissan and Sara Lee... Ed Grover, one of the all-time best commercial announcers.

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

Sounds like John Hurt - who starred in the film 1984 made in..1984..until one hears the lazy d sound instead of t in eighty

[@brentmann2988]

@@celtspeaksgoth7251 There's a little John Hurt in the voice and delivery, but it's Ed Grover, an actor who became one of the most successful commercial voice-over talents. He was the main voice of Apple throughout the 80s. Here is a neat compilation of Apple ads that feature Ed Grover's voice: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apSohGdrr7V8f6c

[@lenns_music]

If you really want to see Ed Grover at his best watch Serpico, he plays Lombardo one of the few good cops, a really good cop.

[@brentmann2988]

@@lenns_music That's exactly right -- he played Lombardo in Serpico. I also saw him play a banker on an episode of The Jeffersons. Solid actor and, of course, an all-time great voice-over talent.

[@JustFeltLikeListenin]

People might not realize it but this IS the original more so than others on KZbin that claim to be the "original". Notice that she is not wearing an iPod on her arm and her shirt does not have the "Picasso" Mac design, it has the original B&W design that would appear on Mac screens with either a smile or a frown depending on the health of your Mac. For being recorded on a VCR, the quality is amazing so the VCR must have been a seriously expensive model because I remember what was available in 1984 and there is no two head VCR that could have recorded in that quality. The tape itself must have also been extraordinary to survive all these years with no drops or artifacts but that just makes it all the more amazing. Any chance this was 2" BetaCam?

[@mattcintosh2]

Nope, that is the Picasso design. Look at 0:25. The apple is at the left. The iPod remake is here kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6G3eZ99bbqGi8k

[@jmagana166]

JustFeltLikeListenin People went one of the way to fake a commercial??? 😯

[@mysty042]

I remember very well, this is authentic!

[@ObnosisJones]

I am also impressed by the quality of this recording; this was not a home VCR, betamax or VHS, it even looks better than 3/4" U-Matic! These formats all have a tell-tale head switching discontinuity at the bottom of the picture. I suspect it was BetaCam (a pro format that used similar 1/2" tape cassettes to the home product), or even possibly 1". 2" quadruplex would not fit the decor of even the most expansive home!

[@outamygaminmind]

yall are wrong, its recorded using a standard tape player and has been upgraded using technology only now three years later being circulated publicly, it can upgrade the quality of any video to one exception, the format. and about the ipod version, it was the anniversary of the ad so they remade it.

[@carlosp_jpg]

im here because of Twice's Talk that Talk MV🥰🥰🥰

[@tiadaid]

The quality of this video makes the ad look more ominous. If I had seen it live I would have felt disconcerted.

[@mysty042]

I did see it live and yes, it was. It's even more-so now in 2020

[@SirPaulMuaddib]

I saw this back in 1984. It was epic.

[@SirPaulMuaddib]

I didn't realize Ridley Scott directed it, no wonder it was epic.

[@jm213213]

1984 won’t be like 1984 but 2021 will

[@SealAngel]

"Traitor!, your heart is blacker than your turtleneck"

[@DDRhappiness17]

Funny how the guy on screen looks like an older Steve Jobs

[@babaofett2165]

A brilliant commercial, arguably the greatest of all time.

[@pammartin1166]

I was a new hire to Apple in 1983. And was part of the big roll-out of the 128K Mac. Wow, what a great experience at 26! Mac fact... the 128k Mac had everyone's signature that worked on the project imbedded. When you used a pair of Mac Crackers (designed to open for add-on's and repairs) to open the case you would see the names. :) Mac Fact - during the SuperBowl people were given seat cushions to display the SuperBowl and the more original Apple Logo. Yep, even have my name in the back of the book, So Far... the First Ten Years.

[@christ347]

What was your initial reaction when the first Apple I sold for $666.66?

[@nikkipeoples9865]

Just tell me you got your Apple stock

[@ltcqqn]

Im currently reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and I just had to come here to check this out. Fun facts: The Big Brother was used in this ad as an anology for IBM, since Jobs was left behind when Apple lost the sales leadership in 1983. So, Lee Clow - the guy who headed the project - wanted to pursue people into the idea of being rebels fighting against a greater evil. Its nice to point out that it was directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and the actors we see in the ad are real life skin heads from London.

[@piperplimmyplymouth]

No wonder I liked this ad so much, Ridley Scott is my favourite director!

[@WaltGekko]

In the Mad Men universe, I would have it where Don Draper created this commercial WITH his daughter Sally, and this would top the Coke ad as Don's greatest creation because he did it with his daughter.

[@hridaanshugusain474]

oh nice i read that book for a book project in 6th grade.

[@andrewtodaro2874]

They used real life skin heads in the Pink Floyd movie, The Wall in the fascist dictatorship scenes!

[@frog382]

Fun fact: Your fun fact is not a fact

[@daver29]

Well, they were right! It's 2020 that has become "1984"....

[@richardgadberry8398]

0:56 Hey, we were watching that!"

[@FlatBlackCaddy]

My god the irony, Apple literally is 1984. Their real accomplishment, is making you think that they weren't one of the ones responsible for the thing they wanted you to not be.

[@jaygarcia8508]

It's funny how the role has reversed & it's now "Apple" that has become that huge soulless corporation....🍎🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@yahallo4423]

What do you mean? they've always been soulless, they are just good at making people like their products and have incompetent competitors.

[@jakethejeweler3092]

T minus 7 days

[@curple3]

@@yahallo4423 "incompetent competitors" at least they don't scam people and purposefully break their devices over time so their customers buy a new one

[@lucasc5622]

@Retral thats because you bought cheap shite windows computers and acted surprised when they slowed down after a year

[@amritsingh4251]

@@lucasc5622 He literally said he bought it for the same price as a macbook pro

[@spencedog]

Its ironic because 40 years later, it’s more 1984 than we ever imagined!

[@jordan12118]

Commercial couldn’t have come at a better time, game was a blowout

[@carlosalmonacid8958]

Hey, we were watching that!

[@dave5088]

Funny to know the board of directors at Apple were appalled when presented this ad. They almost sold all their places for ads at this Super Bowl but someone just didn’t trying hard enough to sell the 60 second slot so the ad was shown anyways

[@Rendraco79]

still in Orson wells's "1984" in year 2021. ...sadly, people don't realize that

[@camarossdriver]

I’m actually WATCHING “1984” at this very moment. 😳

[@spaceedementia]

No. 1984 wasn't like 1984... But 2018 sure is

[@cjcivicx]

Stacy Stroker The Democrats are seeing to that nicely.

[@julianhudson7811]

Nope. 2018 is totally not like 1984.

[@DiegoGonzalez-vn3qx]

Such exaggeration

[@bens4295]

@SWAT Team Gone Wrong Also Ironic how the left has now sided with big tech, military industrial complex, anti free speach, pro nuclear energy. The Only thing I can find common ground with their philosophy is the Legalization of Cannibis. Truly Sad.

[@krazyoldkatlady192]

Space Dementia I was 14 in 1984 and having the time of my life!😁

[@baylinkdashyt]

I do have to admit I did not know they had the whole break to themselves: no product spots on either side. That must have cost them a bunch extra...

[@toomaskarmo9435]

George Orwell published his dystopian fantasy novel _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ in 1949. This was not, however, his only dystopia, Four years earlier, he had published a fantasy novel about a revolution on a farm, in which the downtrodden animals take the farm over from its human owners. At the novel's end, the animals are as badly off as ever, having merely exchanged bipedal overlords for quadrupedal overlords. The history of the Apple Corporation may suggest parallels with that 1945 novel. - (signed) Toomas Karmo, in Nõo Rural Municipality, Estonia

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

This is great to see, thanks for posting (and taping) it! Now, l wonder if anyone in the Twin Falls, Idaho TV viewing area had their VCRs recording when this ad aired there on local station KMVT on December 31, 1983, in order for the commercial to become eligible for upcoming advertising award ceremonies for 1984. The KMVT airing, albeit only local to Twin Falls, was the very first airing of the spot in the US, which aired on the station at 1:00 am, right before sign-off. I'd like to see a recording of that on YT as well, if it does exist. :)

[@rancosteel]

The two note alarm sound was actually used by the director of the commercial Ridley Scott in Blade Runner at the Tyrrell Corporation. He reused the track. Pretty cool.

[@PatrickStar-fb7ms]

This is crazy. History is repeating itself.

[@chigaming2327]

Fortnite kid: hey they copied fortnite! Me: bro

[@gabm.5308]

Yep

[@domenicocatalfamo6503]

Ahaha

[@oscar-1221-]

The game lord 69 Yeah u are the fucking fortnite kid

[@bojan7758]

You actualy play fortnite

[@oscar-1221-]

The game lord 69 I just say you just a fortnite kid :) don’t cry bruh

[@maleman14001]

So now at 2021 we live the dream, wanted or not.

[@hugorodriguez5149]

this commercial was seriously good

[@Teeleer]

i feel like this would go over so many people's heads nowadays

[@cookiefacetwgirlxoxo5947]

It depends people who believe sensitive about read more into stuff will know it. You're not alone there are thousands of people who see this and now the true meaning behind it but feel like they can't do anything about it to stop it. Even as child seeing stuff like this doesn't sit right with me.

[@drewlbers]

cookiefacetwgirl xoxo what is the message because it seems hypocritical coming from Apple who is Big Brother-esque

[@SpiritPhoenixRose]

Finally binge watching Halt And Catch Fire; paused episode 10 to see what Joe and Gordon were talking about. Not disappointed 👍🏼

[@shahreenmunia9112]

Twice paid a tribute to this ad in their "Talk and talk" MV :3 Chaeyoung said this in their MV reaction Nayeon (and kinda Chaeyoung) had done the scene in the last chorus

[@matthewplays7232]

Hey! We were watching that!

[@bkearnaghan]

I remember the game. The Redskins blew out the Raiders 38 to 9. We were having a kegger in our tiny two bedroom apartment that night and I drank so much that I went outside, sat on the AC, and the blew chow.

[@SpottedSharks]

Got the score backwards!

[@8Rincewind]

I finally get it. I'd seen various parodies of this and I've watched most of the add before. But I'd never watched a full thing with the quote about 1984. I thought they were just being pretentious (which arguably they still are) but at least I understand the reasoning.

[@UnchainedEruption]

Just jaw-dropping. Could you imagine anybody doing a commercial as creative and powerful as that today? That looked more like a clip from an Oscar-winning movie than from a tech commercial. "I don't know what a "Macintosh" is, but I want to find out!" would be my reaction if I saw this back then. Today it's just, "Ugh, disgusting ads, fast-forward through them or block them!"

[@mattcintosh2]

Well, the director of the ad, Ridley Scott eventually won an Oscar

[@miniroll32]

“You’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984... ON YEAH AND NEXT WEEK WE GOT SOME BOXING AND SKIING!

[@RagebrosINC]

Fun fact. Now everyone is like those people in the crowd. Mindless drones on their iPhone.

[@qty1315]

RagebrosINC For fucks sake, get off your high horse. You probably typed this comment on your phone. There was one comic that went around a while ago where every single person in a group was thinking the exact same thought "I'm the only one in this crowd who isn't a mindless sheep." People like you remind me of that comic.

[@idealizt2478]

Who actually posts KZbin comments from their phone? lol, let's be real now.

[@Moondog2010A]

I see plenty of "mindless" drones typing on Samsung phones too. Nice stereotyping buddy!

[@jessejames5763]

...and now we live in "Brave New World"...

[@anniedowling1762]

Wow - I lived through this historic moment and just now discovered it almost 40 years later. I was a 9 year old kid who lived in the California Bay Area where the Raiders were popular. I was a Dallas Cowboys fan and hated the Washington Redskins (my dad’s influence). I doubt I was watching and I doubt my dad even noticed. He did buy an apple computer the next year. Just amazing how 1984 came and went. We had no idea how dystopian things would become

[@Danlucco]

I watched it for my entrepreneurship class, a blast

[@amightysailingman]

Actually, this wasn't the day it first aired. It was the day it first aired nationally, but the ad had been shown over a month earlier during late night in a local market in Idaho, as it needed to be broadcast in 1983 if it was to be included in consideration for 1983 advertising awards. The obscure location and time slot was chosen so that the ad remained essentially unseen and a big surprise.

[@TornadoOfSouls777]

1984...when boobs were real...

[@arawn10]

Damn Right.. I'm glad someone else noticed that- not just one in the crowd..

[@sashasguitarcovers5921]

Seventh Mist I’ve noticed a lot of hotties from the 70s and 80s were underage... people were weird back then

[@ltcajh]

Or the lack thereof!

[@einarabelc5]

@@soylentteal Isn't she the gal from Police Academy?

[@soylentteal]

@@einarabelc5 Internet Movie Database shows her only 2 acting appearances are in this ad and as the Russian soldier in the video for the Elton John song "Nikita."

[@vicrattlehead8417]

Big Brother will never lie to me. Wait.

[@imrustyokay]

Seeing it in it's original context, seeing the contrast from the High Production of Ridley Scott in 1984 to the rather barebones CBS Sports promo that followed it, it's striking, and almost artistic in a way. No wonder it made such an impact. It's definitely more Late 80s and less Early 80s.

[@BockwinkleB]

They were telling you what they planned on doing to you in the future.

[@psygn0sis]

I get it now!! The guy on the screen is actually Google.... and Microsoft, and Twitter, and Apple... Shhhh.... I better be quiet or I'll get in trouble for "wrong think". (stares blankly at the big screen).

[@msv9637]

psygn0sis instead of healing the earth they’re focused on social credits..

[@KorbinGamin]

no its not

[@ace942]

psygn0sis When the 1984 commercial was first released, Big Brother was supposed to represent IBM who had a dominate market share. Eventually the PC clones came out and IBM began to lose market share. Fun fact that when Apple used RISC based PowerPC chips, the chips were created by partnering with IBM and Motorola.

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

psygn0sis the funny thing is your pfp fits your comment.

[@mysty042]

crying softly

[@suncharles331]

tearful everytime watching it

[@gavasiarobinssson5108]

This is today

[@verructed8962]

This ad is so cool

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

i wish i was there to see the people's reaction to this

[@xc5gensttsn3egcx57]

Yes, Apple. You are the baddies.

[@goatrex2727]

I like it how it’s recommended to me while it’s happening with epic games

[@athenau-u2670]

self proclaimed "free thinkers" when the cha cha slide comes on

[@robertmcknightmusic]

and then 2020 became 1984

[@johnp7739]

"It won't be like 1984"...until 2020 and following, when Klaus Schwab on the big screen comes back and most people are willing to act like zombies again.

[@ARKM-M]

I’m your 140th subscriber!!

[@irikamyla986]

Anyone from Edward r Murrow

[@hawaiiguykailua6928]

Anyone heartbroken we're right back in those F ing chairs again?!!!!

[@morpheus_uat]

hey! we were watching that

[@irikamyla986]

did anyone read the book 1984? if u did can u tell me what is ironic about it with this commercial?

[@MK-zj8sc]

Hi, do you have the original files for this video? Can you post a download link for it please? Thank you!

[@Baajuju]

Ah yes, a video from 6 years ago in my recommendations.

[@Natecaed]

Its because the fortnite vs apple thing

[@monkeybluecheese]

Does it have to do anything with the movie 1984?

[@nschuehly]

+Harry Yiannios (thecoverguy12) It has something to do with the novel that the movie was based on; the film was made after the Macintosh advertisement, which has been filmed in 1983.

[@23MrMj23]

Harry see my comment above in answer to your question.

[@virginiafenderhead2449]

Looking back on it today, it's pretty black pilling to see Apple go the same Orwellian route it once raged against...

[@stormyklm5695]

congratulations epic games

[@Jpo2564]

Yepidedoodle

[@HeadsetHijack]

Congrats ur first to talk about epic games on this vid

[@claudiomonni2285]

Is there someone who can write what the "big brother" is telling on TV, I'm not an english mother tongue and I'm very curious to know it. Thank you in advance.

[@smartalek180]

This is the best I've got -- there are four parts where I can't tell what he's saying; apologies for those dropouts: "Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the incarnation and fortification... [unintelligible] ...for the first time in all history, a guardian of pure ideology, where each one may... [unintelligible] ...secure from the pests... [unintelligible] ...is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people with one will, one resolve, one cause... Our enemies shall torch (toss?) themselves... [unintelligible] ...and we will bury them with their own confusion! We Shall Prevail!" [crash]

[@ObnosisJones]

Somebody put this up on Wikipedia: "Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology-where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!" Look up 1984 (advertisement)

[@misatsundere399]

Watching this after the reference in Seth Meyers Popsicle Schtick segment, as a non American born after 84 who had no idea this existed

[@transmeeshax6872]

This ad didn’t age well.... or did it?

[@Brani]

Nice

[@rtsportscenter1454]

Hi

[@jesushitleradolf]

Eat your Biriyani first

[@michaelplzno]

IT GROWS THE BRAND.

[@baylinkdashyt]

I hate to be That Guy... but the first day it aired was 12/31/1983, in the 11:57 break on KMVT Twin Falls ID, so it qualified for the *1984* Clio Awards... :-}

[@gamer-sama7769]

immediately thought of Chell from portal

[@mysty042]

excellent correlation!

[@MondySpartan]

Valve did actually parody this to promote Half-Life 2 for Mac.

[@marksnexus]

I hope for  to start innovating new things again. Ever since Steve died, there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians running the show

[@PaperMakersAdeludedbroad]

How the tables have turned

[@gavasiarobinssson5108]

They got the power now. Rob Braxman explains privacy.

[@RhythmOfLines]

Apple is now the face on the screen

[@solracer66]

Anya Major also played Nikita in the 1985 Elton John video of the same name.

[@WaltGekko]

In the "Mad Men" universe, I would have it where Don Draper created this ad with his daughter Sally (who I have winding up following in her father's footsteps) and his wife Megan (remarried to after the death of his prior wife/Sally's mother Betty) directing the legendary commercial. I have it where Don considers this his greatest achievement over the Coke ad (which Don creating was how "Mad Men" actually ended) because unlike the Coke ad, he did it WITH his daughter and his wife directing the legendary commercial.

[@onemoredoll5791]

They were right 1984 is 2021

[@EffectP7B]

best matrix prequel ever

[@g.shumway5925]

Let us not forget the 74-yard Marcus Allen run had in this game

[@Peakon8086]

It's been 40 years already???

[@popcap990]

It's back.

[@irelanda8440]

2020 the New 1984.

[@HVACSoldier]

Here is a link to the script.... www.hep.uiuc.edu/home/g-gollin/1984_commercial_dialogue.html

[@sandral.414]

APPLE IS THE OLIGARCH!! THE IRONY!!

[@Kawa-oneechan]

Big Sur is watching you.