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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Old Apple commercials from the 1980s have been resurfacing on YouTube channel EveryAppleAds over the past few days, offering an extensive look at vintage Apple advertising that is normally overshadowed by Apple's famous Super Bowl commercial "1984".

The commercials, which feature both the Macintosh and the Apple II, introduce and promote the general concept of the PC and its usefulness to every day life. The first ad presents the Macintosh computer as a communication tool, while the second promotes the Apple II as a learning tool.

Coincidentally, the ads happen to be resurfacing close to the release of Steve Jobs movie "JOBS", which takes place in the 80s and tells the story behind the creation of both the Macintosh and the Apple II. The movie, which is currently in the promotional stages, is set to be released in theaters on August 16.

Additional vintage Apple ads can be found on the EveryAppleAds YouTube channel.

Article Link: Vintage 80s Apple Ads Resurfacing on YouTube
 

CFreymarc

Suspended
Sep 4, 2009
3,969
1,149
That second commercial is actually really clever... loved that ending. :)

That frog ad and a few others like it were a big double edged sword for Apple back in the day. While it showed the power of the machine, it also showed political colors to a country just starting to reject Carter and elect Reagan. This kept on going into the launch of the Macintosh where more and more right-leaning folks moved into the Apple boardroom. Many claim his left leaning ads hurt sales.

This pissed off Steve to no end. IMO, this let to a big re-evaluation of his political scene when the Berkeley "Tune in / turn on" types who embraced him at his rise at Apple kicked him to the curb when he was fired form Apple. I bet his NeXT years, like any achieved professional, had him retrospect his youth to sort out what to keep and what to throw away. I mean, he sold a bunch of NeXT stations to the CIA! Where did that change come from?

IMO, what he kept was his art and technology crossover that drove every product that he worked on. He threw away parts of the psychology / psychiatry community that took advantage of him to advance their political agenda. The Xerox PARC alumni and long term hires that started after Steve left where caught in the middle of that.

Looking forward to the movie in August.
 

cdmoore74

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2010
2,413
711
In the second video she says that she does not want to dissect a frog because she does not want to hurt a living thing.

I miss the 80's. It was so easy back when I was young.
 

Casiotone

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2008
825
111
I was frantically downloading the source .mp4 files of these ads until I realized that there was 571 of them and that many have been there for a while. I guess that Apple doesn't mind (unless this article causes them to remove them, which would be sad).

Coincidentally, I was recently looking for a video of the infamous "Helocar" failed tv ad campaign from Apple in 1988, and it seems impossible to find on the internet. Does anyone have it?

More details about it on this page :http://weblog.ceicher.com/archives/2002/04/blogtv_flashback_apples_golden.html (Note, the video on the page doesn't work anymore and it seems it was only a stamp size QT movie anyway).
 
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DisMyMac

macrumors 65816
Sep 30, 2009
1,087
11
IMO, this let to a big re-evaluation of his political scene when the Berkeley "Tune in / turn on" types who embraced him at his rise at Apple kicked him to the curb when he was fired form Apple. I bet his NeXT years, like any achieved professional, had him retrospect his youth to sort out what to keep and what to throw away. I mean, he sold a bunch of NeXT stations to the CIA! Where did that change come from?

Steve may have changed but the CIA did too, as former Cold Warriors were replaced with One Worlders... Ironic how that commercial is about the right to opt out.
 

50548

Guest
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
You have to hand the crown to apple, they rule.

I still think my Apple IIGS was the best personal computer ever back then - what a piece of genius.

----------

They should bring back this campaign ;)

YouTube: video

Although the test drive campaign did fail badly - in the end, people just used them for a bit and returned the Macs in terrible shape. ;)
 

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,517
5,936
The thick of it
The frog commercial seems odd to me. The girl uses the Apple computer with high-end interactive graphics to dissect a frog. I think that's pretty amazing for the 1980s. The computer is in the school lab, so it's apparently there for students to use. And then she says she got a low grade.

So what that tells me is that the teacher at the school is a traditionalist and doesn't want to allow new technology to be used. It makes it seem like Apple computers are not welcome in the classroom, the opposite of what Apple was trying to achieve back then.

I get the supposed twist at the end with the constitutional law comment, but that makes it seem like one way or another, schools will be forced to use Macs. To me, the ad has a very strange snarky confrontational tone.
 

jc1350

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2008
606
39
The frog commercial seems odd to me. The girl uses the Apple computer with high-end interactive graphics to dissect a frog. I think that's pretty amazing for the 1980s. The computer is in the school lab, so it's apparently there for students to use. And then she says she got a low grade.

So what that tells me is that the teacher at the school is a traditionalist and doesn't want to allow new technology to be used. It makes it seem like Apple computers are not welcome in the classroom, the opposite of what Apple was trying to achieve back then.

I get the supposed twist at the end with the constitutional law comment, but that makes it seem like one way or another; schools will be forced to use Macs. To me, the ad has a very strange snarky confrontational tone.

Her situation was real; it was not an entirely scripted commercial. I vaguely remember it being in the news back then.
 
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deannnnn

macrumors 68020
Jun 4, 2007
2,090
625
New York City & South Florida
These ads were made three years before I was born.

And I'm not a little kid, I'm 23 years old. I grew up with my parents and grandparents constantly telling me what life was like without computers and cell phones and the internet. What are we going to tell our kids we grew up without? I can't wait to find out.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,308
[MOD NOTE]
Please keep PRSI out of this thread, its not the pace to discuss this.
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
They should bring back this campaign ;)

Since my original post was deleted (not sure why)... I'd mentioned that this ad was never aired. Guy Kawasaki screened it at seminars I attended way back when ('90s), so I suspect that Guy is the one putting them on YouTube.

Very funny, but dubious marketing. Just as well they had second thoughts about airing it.

(Historical note, not political. Please do not delete.)
 

aristotle

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2007
1,768
5
Canada
That second commercial is actually really clever... loved that ending. :)
The problem is that they character in the ad completely missed the point of why dissection is part of a biology class. Biology classes can provide foundational knowledge and experience for doctors and surgeons who may at some point have to put a person under the knife. Eventually, they are going to have to cutup cadavers but it is helpful for them to start with a frog dissection.

Sorry, but a computer program does not quite cut it. This experience also helps to weed out anyone too squeamish to work as a surgeon.
 

appleisking

macrumors 6502a
May 24, 2013
658
3,022
The problem is that they character in the ad completely missed the point of why dissection is part of a biology class. Biology classes can provide foundational knowledge and experience for doctors and surgeons who may at some point have to put a person under the knife. Eventually, they are going to have to cutup cadavers but it is helpful for them to start with a frog dissection.

Sorry, but a computer program does not quite cut it. This experience also helps to weed out anyone too squeamish to work as a surgeon.

Maybe but intro to bio classes are pretty much universally required so people who don't want to go into the medical field will be perfectly happy with a computer program.
 

IzzyJG99

macrumors 6502
Oct 26, 2007
336
6
I love the vintage Apple Ads. Whenever I bought a new HD from Other World Computing it always had a lot of the more memorable ads on it along with some freeware and shareware. This was back in the day, of course.
 
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