1984 to 2009 – Is Apple now Big Brother?

Here is an interesting spoof on Apple’s famous 1984 commercial. We all know the original spot. It is one of the most famous commercials of all time, showing Apple as the young/think for yourself/screw the man brand. The ad launched during the SuperBowl that year and was essentially Apple’s coming out party. Directed by Ridley Scott, it introduced the Macintosh personal computer to the world. And with a bang.

“Get a Mac” campaign – Time for a change?

As I sit here blogging on my Mac, it got me thinking about the Mac vs. PC debate and more importantly, Apple’s “Get a Mac” advertising campaign. We all know the campaign, we all know the characters, Mac played by actor Justin Long and PC played by author and humorist John Hodgman.

When the campaign first hit the air in 2006, I thought it was brilliant. Personalizing both the Mac and PC brands as they had with the two characters was perfect. Mac was the trendy, cool, young computer while PC was the stuffy old businessman computer. Apple had characterized their brand perfectly, and characterized the PC brand, less than favourably.

The power of social media

Have you ever bought a product that just wouldn’t work like it should, or been to a store or a restaurant and received just the worst service imaginable? You complain, you do all you can but nothing seems to make a difference.

Well, with the power of social media (YouTube to be more specific) you can pressure big business with more than just a customer-complaint card or 1-800 number.