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Years of the copycats (1984 Ads and quotes)

Fraaaa

Fraaaa

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 22, 2010
1,081
0
London, UK
I just went to YouTube to see what some hands on the Xoom as I don't know much about Android, Honeycomb and the Xoom in general. First thing that shown up is the Xoom advert, so I though ok lets see this. An advert where there are loads of soulless people dressed in white wearing white earphones(reference to Apple? :rolleyes:) but one individual is not, which has a Xoom. Beside that wasn't suble enough, on the display of his Xoom you can see he was perhaps reading something George Orwell's 1984. This was nothing new to my eyes, and Motorola came from already a very horrible teaser which wasn't original already.

Now, I remember that in a recent Google I/O keynote this reference was used - in my opinion incorrectly - already by them referring of course to Apple market share of the iPhone.

I'm flummoxed... are other company at least be able to make their own marketing and ads without using what Apple used more than 20 years ago? Originality much?
 
I understand your point but Apple recently ended a 3yr ad campaign that was based purely on slamming Windows so they're not that honorable in advertising either. and let's not forget their "think different" ads where they'd associate people like Einstein, Lennon or Henson with Macs despite them predating Apple.

Personally, I feel the "art" of advertising is lost so I ignore them because most of it is so unoriginal nowadays
 
I'm flummoxed... are other company at least be able to make their own marketing and ads without using what Apple used more than 20 years ago? Originality much?
Click to expand...

What's confusing about it? The whole point of reusing Apple's theme, is to quickly point out that Apple ironically is now the Giant establishment corporation they used to play David against.

Creating a whole new scenario wouldn't have the same irony.

Not saying they couldn't have done the repeat better, though. I think we all felt it didn't have the same impact.
 
urkel said:
I understand your point but Apple recently ended a 3yr ad campaign that was based purely on slamming Windows so they're not that honorable in advertising either. and let's not forget their "think different" ads where they'd associate people like Einstein, Lennon or Henson with Macs despite them predating Apple.

Personally, I feel the "art" of advertising is lost so I ignore them because most of it is so unoriginal nowadays
Click to expand...

Apple's clever campaign was simple enough for Joe Public to understand. Most folks don't understand the symbolism and imagery of the Xoom ads.

Regardless, Apple's marketing is not based on ads. It's based on creating iconic products that people don't know they want (need?) until they see it.
Everyone else is playing follow the leader and the leader is Apple. Yes, there were tablets before the Ipad, but they weren't what a typical consumer wanted or needed. Apple creates markets!
 
Fraaaa said:
I'm flummoxed... are other company at least be able to make their own marketing and ads without using what Apple used more than 20 years ago? Originality much?
Click to expand...

I did not take motorola copying apple's 1984 ad but rather slamming apple for the very things it was marketing against back in 1984.

back then apple was showing that they were not big brother calling the shots but one for the individual who wanted to think different.

Fast forward to 2011 and you have apple calling the shots making the decisions for consumers because they know better. Their closed app store, review policies is very much Orwellian in nature and Motorola astutely used this in their marketing.
 
kdarling said:
What's confusing about it? The whole point of reusing Apple's theme, is to quickly point out that Apple ironically is now the Giant establishment corporation they used to play David against.

Creating a whole new scenario wouldn't have the same irony.

Not saying they couldn't have done the repeat better, though. I think we all felt it didn't have the same impact.
Click to expand...

I agree. In fact, I've been thinking for a long time that Apple have become the exact establishment they use to stand against. In fact, their tactics are often even more draconian than anyone before them. It's not always for the bad, but does paint the sci-fi legion of drones pretty accurately. The ad is a decent reflection of this.
 
Apple has become what it once hated. Jobs is a hypocrite. Of course complete control is ok, as long as he's in control.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Apple has become what it once hated. Jobs is a hypocrite. Of course complete control is ok, as long as he's in control.
Click to expand...

It's all perspective. He was the underdog then!
It's a business. He has shareholders etc. He could be anti-establishment then but not now.
It's no different than Google's "do no evil". Yeah, right!

Apple is a giant now and they have a business model. What did Job's previous business model get him?

No one was more vicious than Microsoft in squashing competitors and upstarts!
 
Well, Apple hated IBM because they were so powerful at the time and if a competition wasn't going to emerge at the time, they feared there wouldn't be any in the future because of a monopoly that would create - which in part has happend with Microsoft.

In a way it's true, summon that old concept they used and tell them, 'now you are the big brother and we are coming get you' make sense; however, I don't feel Apple is the big brother as IBM use to be in the 80s. Apple started from nothing and with no resources to compete with the biggest and 'only' computer industry.
Nowadays anyone can spend enough money to make research and trow anything in the market and gain some market share.
Moreover I see in the advert that the Xoom will bring something fresh as the 'white hoods' can't even comprehend creativity - which in my opinion is what Apple mostly base is products upon. And I don't see Xoom bringing anything fresh, and review are killing the Xoom already with its unstable system.
 
I thought i read that the 97 "investment" was actually a settlement of copyright infringement.

Regardless, Microsoft didnt save Apple. Further, MS bludgeoned many small startups over the years.

Additonally, I don't really think it matters. Business is business. Sometimes it's about partnerships and sometimes it's about fierce competition. The bottom line is the bottom line. No margin, no mission as they say.

Apple is creating value via their brand and product offerings. Microsoft has Office!
 
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