Analysing Apple's "1984", possibly the best ad ever.

In this article I will undertake a semiotic analysis of the advertisement "1984" by Apple, using a synchronic approach. I will be using the work of Roland Barthes (1915-1980) and Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), who identified semiotics as  ‘the science of signs’ (1); two of the main contributors towards the field of semiotic research, to decipher the signs used in the advertisement. Because Saussure pointed out, concepts get their meaning out of oppositional relationships (2), I will focus on some of the very obvious binary oppositions. This becomes fairly easy, as Apple exaggerated the polar oppositions in the advertisement so strongly, that it is close to becoming absurd. 

The spot was a mark stone in the history of adverting and had an enormous effect on the popularity of apple. It aired only once, on 22 January 1984 in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. The spot was not only rated as the best advertisement ever (3), in 2007 it was also rated as the best Super Bowl spot in the 40 years history. (4) The “watershed event” was not the only computer advertisement, that aired in these years, but it was “…just the only one that changed people's lives” (5)  

The Plot

To continue with the analysis, it is important to gain an overview of the plot: In the beginning, a droning voice resonates through a dystopic, industrial setting, which is held in dark, blue and gray tones. Then you see emotionless and bald people, some wearing masks, marching in unison through a long tunnel with telescreens on the wall. 

All of a sudden, a young woman appears, dressed almost like an athlete, in a color-full sports outfit that forms a strong oppositional contrast to the gray surrounding her. She carries a large brass-headed hammer and is being chased by uniformed guards. She runs towards a large screen with a figure on it, revealing the one who was talking with the droning voice.  While the figure continues to talk about the anniversary of the "Information Purification Directives" and the "Unification of Thoughts" the woman, who now approaches the screen, hurls the hammer towards it and destroys it where upon it explodes into white whilst the figure shouts "we shall prevail!" Then you see a shocked audience and an announcer says in a calm but triumphant voice: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'”

Background

The background of the whole spot is the intertextuality with George Orwell’s Novel “1984” (6). The images of the spot are an allusion to the novel, which describes the year 1984 as a dark future, with the dictatorship of the television screens from “Big Brother.” The idea behind the spot is to present the end of the ruler ship of “The Big Blue” (IBM) and it puts a lot of effort in creating very strong polar oppositions of good and bad. 

The spot itself is a pure atmosphere-advertisement, which means, that it does not give a rational reason to legitimate a purchase. This was very unusual for the time. Advertisement spots of other computer companies, like the IBM spot (7) from 1986, in which a Charlie Chaplin lookalike thinks about the reasons to buy an IBM-PC, where based upon the idea of delivering reasons for a purchase. 

The technical codes of the spot are, for the time of the release, very modern. Fast cuts show the “hero”, the armed force and the huge screen from different camera angles. It also takes advantage of very obvious social codes: The dark troop of soldiers with their masks and scary outfits form a strong contrary and a binary opposition to the athletic woman in her bright dress and her wafting blond hair. These connotations make it very easy to differentiate between the “good” and “bad”. 

The verbal codes are also clearly used as signifiers to help the audience understand the bad “Big Brother” that dominates the market, controls everything and uses its power for evil purposes. When the screen explodes a cool, charming voice introduces Macintosh. The whole spot is a connotation that anchors Orwell’s dystopian Novell in people’s minds in relation to IBM computers. 

The spot demonstrates Apple’s position on the market, and its relationship to its customers during this time very well. Apple is a small, unknown company, especially amongst the 'non-techies'. It was not usual to have a personal computer in your household in those days. The fact that the spot was broadcast at a major sports-event shows at which target audience it was aimed. 

The demographics of the audience were from a broad age range and focused on the average income range. The whole idea that personal computers were available and simple enough for non-techies, had to be brought to the average person. People were very critical with computers, they where very complicated and inaccessible.

The advertisements clearly targets a very specific field of cultural-code. The spot can only be understand by someone who has heard of Orwell's novel, ergo is a part of the western society. To someone who grew up somewhere else, without ever reading Orwell, the clip will not suggest the expected meanings. 

By completely ignoring any focus on "reason", the spot solely signifies that by buying the product you are escaping the world of control and unison to finally become free. This message is a myth that the images create. The advert produces connotations of freedom and passion towards independence. 

Fortunately for Apple, all three television networks and nearly 50 local stations aired news stories about the advert, some showing the entire spot, barely a few hours later. This gained Apple publicity worth many million Dollars (8). Apple’s announcement that they would never broadcast the spot again fed the following media frenzy even more.

last time modified: Aug. 1, 2011, 3:22 p.m.