The Apple Ad That Changed the World (Replay)
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
History repeats itself this week with an episode from the HISTORY This Week archives: January 22, 1984. Apple launches the very first Macintosh computer, unveiling the machine to the public in a showstopping Super Bowl commercial. Not only was the ad itself revolutionary, but the product it launched almost single-handedly brought computers into the mainstream. The Macintosh PC would change technology, and the world as we know it forever.
Special thanks to Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author and producer of the “Making the Macintosh” digital archive.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:03.6 | Hello, History this week listeners. It is Sally here. Before we start this episode, |
| 0:07.7 | we just have a quick update for you. We are hard at work on great new episodes for 2022. |
| 0:13.2 | And in the meantime, we wanted to bring you some of our favorite episodes from the past two years. |
| 0:18.4 | So this month, we will be visiting some history this week hits and be back on January 31st with |
| 0:23.9 | brand new episodes. We hope you enjoy. January 22nd, 1984, Super Bowl Sunday. |
| 0:40.4 | The LA Raiders are playing the Washington Redskins. 77.6 million people are watching. |
| 0:46.9 | And honestly, it's not a great game. A little after half time, LA is in the lead 28 to 9 and |
| 0:58.5 | Washington never makes a comeback. But something happens during the third quarter commercial break. |
| 1:06.7 | Something that makes the viewers sit up and pay attention. |
| 1:09.5 | The day we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the information for it. |
| 1:15.6 | An ad starts. But is it an ad? We see a dystopian future unfold. |
| 1:27.3 | Masses of stony faced people dressed in gray, shaved bald, marching in single-file lines. |
| 1:34.7 | Meanwhile, a giant screen broadcasts Big Brother. Droning on and on about conformity and the |
| 1:47.5 | unification of thoughts. It's Orwell's 1984 come to life. But then a lone colorful figure cuts |
| 1:58.0 | through the gray. A woman dressed in bright workout gear, very 80s. She sprints toward the screen, |
| 2:05.6 | a sledgehammer in her hand. The woman launches her hammer at the screen. |
| 2:15.1 | It explodes in a burst of light and the timeline rolls. |
| 2:19.2 | On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce McIntosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be |
| 2:27.1 | 1984. Then it's back to the game. But across the country, audiences are stunned. |
| 2:40.8 | I imagine them pausing with chips halfway to their mouths. The 60-second ad is like nothing they've |
| 2:47.6 | seen before. Until now, ads were just ads. But this is cinema. It's directed by Ridley Scott, |
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