A first state Betamax videotape of two versions of the iconic '1984' Apple Computer ad directed by Ridley Scott, which famously aired on CBS during the broadcast of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. The tape derives from the personal collection of the ad's art director, Brent Thomas, and is signed by him three times: once on the tape's label in black felt tip, "Brent's"; once on the tape's spine in white; and once on the case's plastic cover (heavily rubbed). Both the tape and case bear Chiat/Day labels with typed descriptions of the contents: "Apple Computer, '1984' :60 & :30, Dub from Editel edit of 9/28/83." Both spots are preceded by title cards with flashing "Not For Air" notices. In fine condition, with rubbing and cracking to the plastic label cover on the tape's case. Accompanied by a USB drive with direct transfers of both ads, as well as a letter of provenance noting the tape's origin from Brent Thomas's estate.
Inspired by George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas, and Lee Clow of the Chiat/Day advertising agency, the ad features an athletic heroine in bright red shorts and a white tank top with a Macintosh on the front. Wielding a sledgehammer, she sprints through a droning and lifeless meeting, twirls, and hurls the hammer at a big screen broadcasting a 'Big Brother' speech, blowing it up. As the explosion echoes, the screen reads: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'" Shot in dark, blue-gray hues meant to invoke IBM's 'Big Blue,' the ad anticipates Apple's disruption of the personal computing industry. The commercial's social and political overtones held a particular resonance in the mid-1980s, as the United States and Soviet Union were still engaged in an ideological Cold War. The ad was an immediate sensation, and it has subsequently been called a watershed moment in advertising history. It would go on to win the 1984 Grand Prix at the Cannes International Advertising Film Festival, and be added to the Hall of Fame of the Clio Awards in 1995, the same year that Ad Age named it 'the best commercial ever made.'
In a March 1984 interview with the New York Times, Brent Thomas discussed the now-iconic ad, saying that Apple had wanted something to 'stop America in its tracks, to make people think about computers, to make them think about Macintosh.' With about $3.5 million worth of Macintoshes sold in the weeks after the advertisement ran, Thomas judged the effort 'absolutely successful,' adding: 'We also set out to smash the old canard that the computer will enslave us…We did not say the computer will set us free—I have no idea how it will work out. This was strictly a marketing position.'
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