Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple
Found Footage: Lisa ad staring Kevin Costner
In 1983, a sweaty businessman rode his bike to the office in the early morning. After ditching the bike and climbing the stairs, he clicked his computer's mouse, gazed contemplatively at the screen and answered an unexpected phone call with a smile. "Yeah," he said. "I'll be home for breakfast."
The actor was Kevin Costner (hey, he's a lefty!). The computer was an Apple Lisa and the message was simple: Buy a computer, and you'll become so obsessed with it that you'll arrive at work hours before everyone else and even your spouse will question your interest in the most mundane aspects of domestic life.
Ah, the information age. How lucky we are.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
eric said 9:34AM on 2-05-2007
U call that lucky, i call that sad.
I will no longer use any computers as soon as I earn enough. Find me in South America Jungles or African desserts.
Computers are tools, and love is for life only.
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esqyre said 9:41AM on 2-05-2007
I am amazed that Apple's message has stayed "on point" since 1983. Another in a long list of reasons why Apple has lasted as long as it has.
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David said 9:48AM on 2-05-2007
It's actually a pretty good commercial, and so modern looking (except for the haircut) that it was jarring to see that prehistoric thing squatting on the desk.
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Sluggo said 10:23AM on 2-05-2007
Hmm, which is it?
Staring |ste(ə)r-ring|
verb [ staring ] looking fixedly or vacantly at someone or something with one's eyes wide open : he stared at her in amazement.
Starring |stär-ring|
verb ( starring, stared ) [ trans. ] 1 (of a movie, play, or other show) have (someone) as a principal performer.
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Sasha S. said 10:45AM on 2-05-2007
Notice how he holds the mouse in a very unusual way. I guess very few people knew what was the proper way of using the mouse then.
Ad message is still fresh, and if someone has removed Lisa and placed new iMac in the shot it could still work today.
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Todd said 11:36AM on 2-05-2007
He's not a lefty, which could explain the awkward grasp of the mouse. It was probably just done like that because of the office layout & camera angles.
For proof, check out Tin Cup, Bull Burham, For The Love of the Game, or Field of Dreams.
Was he well known in '83? I'm guessing no. His imdb filmography starts in 1982.
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PaperQueen said 4:09PM on 2-05-2007
I’m with posters 2 and 3...put an MBP on the desk and this ad still works. Kudos to the agency that came up with a spot that so accurately fit the client’s culture it‘s timely decades later.
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Edac2 said 9:56PM on 2-05-2007
The bike... the hills... the dog... it looks an awful lot like a male version of Flashdance.
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Jon H. said 12:23AM on 2-07-2007
Re #8: I was just thinking that. ;-)
And the narrator voiceover sounds like the same one from the "1984" ad, no?
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