This commercial

August 3, 2000 4:18 PM

This commercial looks familar. Didn't some other computer company do something similar back during the 1984 Super Bowl? I suppose imitation is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
posted by fpatrick (14 comments total)

yep. the commercial where all those drone-type folks were just sitting and staring at the screen and then that woman came in and busted up the screen?

gah. this one was just BAD nevermind it being a rip-off.
posted by sarajflemming at 4:23 PM on August 3, 2000

wow, the computer itself looks like some sort of Commodore64 knockoff (it uses a monitor or a tv!).
posted by mathowie at 4:24 PM on August 3, 2000

Aw, c'mon dude, why do you wanna talk down on the C64? I loved my C64! Oh, for those halcyon days of comma eight, comma one.
posted by wiremommy at 4:48 PM on August 3, 2000

Ahem.
posted by Athena at 10:19 PM on August 3, 2000

>>>>Didn't some other computer company do something similar back during the 1984 Super Bowl?<<<

You knew the year that the commercial was played?
That's quite a memory you have there.
posted by the webmistress at 11:30 PM on August 3, 2000

I don't think the year the commercial aired was arbitrary or coincidental. Makes it easy to remember.
posted by dan_of_brainlog at 1:29 AM on August 4, 2000

Indeed, the commercial is _named_ "1984." Legendary among Apple fanatics -- my friend the Mac lover has the 30-frames-per-second Quicktime file saved on his computer.
posted by werty at 6:54 AM on August 4, 2000

Feh, 1983 I mean.
posted by aaron at 7:28 AM on August 4, 2000

Never mind that it's a take off on an important work of fiction that's titled 1984.
posted by alan at 8:02 AM on August 4, 2000

Fiction? You mean like a there was a book or something too? Whoa.
posted by chicobangs at 10:36 AM on August 4, 2000

What's a book?
posted by fpatrick at 10:55 AM on August 4, 2000

Ah. I'm not a TV person, or a Mac person (yet), so I wasn't aware of those things. Thank you all so very much for enlightening me.
posted by the webmistress at 11:31 AM on August 4, 2000

I don't know why people are slagging this ad. It's a little amusing ... even I, a highly paid network engineer, have been struggling with config issues lately and would gladly do something similar if it weren't something I spent a lot of money for. :-/

Kids, clue: Shakespeare reused plots. There's hardly any such thing as an "original idea".

For my part, I thought it was an amusing homage that takes full advantage of the fact that Apple barely used the ad they're most famous for.
posted by dhartung at 2:47 PM on August 4, 2000