Apple '1984': Creative leaders' verdicts, 35 years on.
This is an excerpt from an article I was asked to contribute to Campaign 19th February 2019, alongside Rick Brim from Adam&Eve, Vicki Maguire from Grey and Andy Jex from TBWA.
Saturday 22 January 1984
Dear diary,
Wowzers, I just saw the best and most scariest and exciting thing I have ever seen on TV ever. It even made me put down my He-Man and just watch the television, and I never do that because most stuff on the telly that isn't He-Man is BORING BORING BORING.
It was so cool. At the start, there were all these people walking along tunnels in a huge factory, like a big sad grey worm, and then there are soldiers who are running after them and being mean.
But then there's a brave lady who looks like she doesn't belong in this sad factory because she’s running and she’s colourful and brave-looking and she is being chased by the soldiers towards a room where there's a big mean old man who is shouting at everybody like Mr Grove in maths, and he is saying that he’s in charge or something, and being boring is good and there are all these sad people who are just standing there like when Dad's tired and he can't remember why he came upstairs.
And then we see the lady running down the middle of the room with all the sad people again, which is dangerous (and exciting) because Mum says not to run indoors 'coz I'll knock something over, but anyway she's running and everyone stops and turns around to see her.
And then she has a great big hammer that she starts swinging around and around (which is also quite naughty, but that also looks really fun) and the big-faced man on the screen who is being mean starts to look really cross. Then she just throws the hammer at his face and it's flying through the air and all the sad people are surprised and then it smashes into the great big TV screen, which explodes and the big mean man goes away. That bit was so RAD!
And then there’s this grown-up’s voice that says "On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 doesn't have to be like 1984", which my mum says is very clever, and that I'll understand when I'm older, which is OK because I'm only small. And it's made Mum and Dad smile, and adverts never do that.
Then there's a rainbow apple on the telly and it is the coolest apple I have ever seen and it makes me feel happy because I think they’re like me, because I like things that are exciting and different, not all the same and boring.
The person who made this film must be very clever. I hope they make lots and lots of exciting films for years and years, way into the future, until I’m old and it’s like 2019 or something. I hope I can get a job making things like that when I’m older. It looks like a lot of fun.
I give this advert five out of five stars.
Here's a link to the original article: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/apple-1984-creative-leaders-verdicts-35-years/1526002