Bob Garfield says that Apple has done a complete about-face when you compare its 2001 advertising with that of the company’s legendary 1984 spot, or its more recent Think Different campaign. Garfield’s comments appear in a new article in Advertising Age’s Ad Review entitled Apple turns 180 degrees from 1984.
As an example of Apple’s new advertising, Garfield points to the company’s “Rip, Mix, Burn” and “Middle Seat” television spots. Both ads feature young hipsters — the former is ready to use his iMac to burn a CD-R filled with his favorite music, as he auditions popular musicians in an empty theater. The latter features an iBook user who’s content to sit in a cramped coach-class middle seat on a crowded airplane.
In fact, both ads, said Garfield, are the exact opposite Apple’s historic focus on iconoclasm, which he says are “self-limiting, dooming Apple to marginality.” It’s more important to get the word out about what makes Apple products cool, useful, and fun.
“Hmm. Selling the product on its merits, and not as a conscientious objection. An interesting concept. From a marketing point of view, that’s not thinking differently, it’s just thinking ahead,” said Garfield. “Although, for Apple, that’s different.”