In 1984, #Apple reserved a space on the illustrious Super Bowl commercial to introduce the Macintosh 128k personal computer, considered one of the greatest TV ads of all time. An annual show of the two best teams competing for a championship NFL title, the Super Bowl seemed to be the ultimate opportunity for Apple to show up to their longstanding competitor IBM to cement themselves as the true revolutionaries in tech.

The year 1984 was the perfect backdrop to shift the alarming narrative surrounding technology, much of which was heavily instigated by the dystopian and authoritarian surveillance state depicted in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. With IBM dominating the PC market, Apple not only wanted to squash the Orwell-induced fears that a single company would dominate or control the digital age, but position themselves as the saviour of just that.

Directed by Ridley Scott with the tagline “Why 1984 Won’t Be Like 1984” Apple materialised a cinematic event. Scott replicated Orwell’s futuristic tone and cast local British skinheads to portray a controlled society. The imagery was as simple as a group robotically consuming a broadcast of “Big Brother” and a woman catapulting a hammer into the screen to rescue them. Although a Macintosh was never shown, what was clear was Apple’s direct messaging – that IBM was “Big Brother” and Apple was the woman sprinting to liberate society.

Despite having popularised the influence of Super Bowl ads, 1984 almost didn’t air. During testing, the ad had an effectiveness rate of 5 against the average 29 and with disapproval by the Apple board, they were instructed to scrap the ad and sell their airtime. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak however insisted that it ran and were rumoured to have split the ad cost. Within 3 months of airing, $155 million worth of Macintoshes were sold.

While there’s an ironic sentiment related to this ad now that Apple is a tech giant, it has long been revered as absolute genius. Apple made it clear that technology wasn’t something to resist, but rather through the user-friendly Macintosh, technology could be a liberator.