---
title: 'Hey Apple! Who is Big Brother now?'
url: 'https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/hey-apple-who-is-big-brother-now'
markdown: 'https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/hey-apple-who-is-big-brother-now.md'
date: '2011-02-08'
description: 'Image via Wikipedia Back in 1984, Apple launched an ad campaign during the Superbowl casting IBM (and by association Microsoft) as George Orwell‘s Big Brother. This year’s Superbowl saw a much more understated take on the mono-culture of 1984. And this time, the evil empire is based in Cupertino…'
taxonomy:
  category:
    - Journal
  tag:
    - apple
    - google
---

# Hey Apple! Who is Big Brother now?

## [Hey Apple! Who is Big Brother now?](https://stevenjaycohen.com/journal/hey-apple-who-is-big-brother-now)

    8th Feb 2011   [apple](https://stevenjaycohen.com/tag:apple#body-wrapper) [google](https://stevenjaycohen.com/tag:google#body-wrapper)  

 [![This television commercial, first aired during...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5d/Ad_apple_1984.jpg/300px-Ad_apple_1984.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ad_apple_1984.jpg)

Image via [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ad_apple_1984.jpg)

Back in 1984, Apple launched an [ad campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_campaign "Advertising campaign") during the Superbowl casting [IBM](https://www.google.com/finance?q=LON%3AIBM "LSE: IBM") (and by association [Microsoft](https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT "NASDAQ: MSFT")) as [George Orwell](https://web.archive.org/web/20111122180946/https://www.myspace.com/everything/george-orwell "George Orwell")‘s [Big Brother](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four) "Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)"). This year’s Superbowl saw a much more understated take on the mono-culture of 1984.

And this time, the [evil empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_empire "Evil empire") is based in [Cupertino](https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.3175%2C-122.041944444&spn=0.1%2C0.1&q=37.3175%2C-122.041944444%20%28Cupertino%2C%20California%29&t=h "Cupertino, California"). The subtext of this ad attempts to take the old “[Think Different](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different "Think Different")” mantle away from [Apple.](https://www.google.com/finance?q=LON%3AAPC "LSE: APC") Do you think it succeeds?

Related articles- [Motorola Bashes Apple in ‘1984′ Superbowl Ad](https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/motorola-apple-1984-superbowl/) (wired.com)

- [Motorola Picks A Fight With Apple In New Xoom Ad (VIDEO)](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/motorola-xoom-ad-targets-apple-1984_n_816823.html) (huffingtonpost.com)

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