Advertising

It’s Been 40 Years Since “1984,” and I Still Haven’t Bought an Apple Product

Is this what it means to “Think Different”?

A lot has changed in professional football since Super Bowl XVIII, played on January 22, 1984, between the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Raiders. For starters, since 2002 the Super Bowl has been held in February instead of January. In 2020 the Washington Redskins changed the team name — a name that had been the subject of protests for decades — to the Washington Commanders. The Raiders moved from Los Angeles to Oakland in 1995 and from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020. The cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad increased from $525,000 in 1984 to about $7 million in 2024.

A couple of things, though, have remained constant:

A one-minute commercial titled “1984” that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII and introduced Apple’s Macintosh computer to the American public is still considered a landmark in advertising history.

And I still have never purchased an Apple product. Not before 1984 and “1984.” And never even once since then.

Is there a connection?