Apple advertising

November 8, 1984: After initial Mac sales prove disappointing, Apple CEO John Sculley dreams up the “Test Drive a Macintosh” marketing campaign to encourage people to give the revolutionary new computer a chance.

The promotional strategy advises people to drop into their local retailer and “borrow” a Macintosh for 24 hours. The idea is that, by the time potential customers need to return the Mac, they will have built up a bond with it — and realized they can’t live without one of Apple’s computers.

While 200,000 would-be customers take advantage of the offer, Apple dealers absolutely hate it.

With the release this week of new M4 Mac mini and M4 MacBook Pro computers comes a return to form for Apple advertising, with delightful M4 promotional videos that give the new hardware relatable human characteristics. They’re fun to watch, and you can do so below.

Tuesday’s animated video turns Mac mini into an affable yet capable and hyper-productive guy you might want to get a beer with. Wednesday’s MacBook Pro video depicts a power lifter-turned-showman flaunting effortless feats of strength, not to mention acrobatic prowess and grace.

September 28, 1997: Apple debuts its iconic “Think Different” ad campaign. The television commercial aligns the troubled computer company with some of history’s most celebrated freethinking rebels.

The most famous tagline in Apple history, “Think Different” doesn’t just articulate how Cupertino differs from its competitors. It also highlights how Apple, under the leadership of CEO Steve Jobs, will forge a future far different from its floundering, money-losing days of the early 1990s.

August 21, 2008: Microsoft recruits comedian Jerry Seinfeld for a series of ads. It’s a naked attempt to shake the company’s reputation as a stodgy oldster (as opposed to Apple’s trendsetting hipster image).

Microsoft pays Seinfeld a reported $10 million for the ads. However, thanks to the Mac’s appearance in virtually every episode of Seinfeld over the years, the comedian remains the world’s most famous Apple fanboy.

August 8, 1997: At Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs introduces the world to Apple’s new slogan, “Think different.” The catchy marketing reassures fans that Apple is exiting its mid-1990s dark age and once again making products customers will love.

It’s the beginning of Apple’s most iconic advertising campaign since the original “1984” Macintosh ad.

July 23, 2012: Looking for the perfect spokesman for its new virtual assistant Siri, Apple turns to the director behind some of Hollywood’s most violent gangster movies. A new ad shows Martin Scorsese using Siri voice commands on his iPhone to juggle his busy schedule.

One in a string of celebrity-studded ads showcasing the Apple’s recently released virtual assistant, it ranks among the best.

June 14, 2007: Paul McCartney sings his new song “Dance Tonight” in an iPod + iTunes ad, the latest in a series of Apple spots starring music industry legends.

The new animated ad signifies a thawing of the icy relationship between Apple and McCartney, whose original band The Beatles has been locked in a legal battle with Cupertino for decades.

June 9, 2002: Apple launches its “Switch” advertising campaign, featuring real people talking about their reasons for switching from PCs to Macs. Apple’s biggest marketing effort since the “Think different” ad campaign a few years earlier, one “Switch” ad in particular turns 15-year-old high school student Ellen Feiss into an unlikely star.

She becomes a viral sensation after viewers suggest she was stoned during filming of her sleepy-eyed “Switch” spot about a homework-devouring PC.

May 27, 1986: An exiled Steve Jobs takes a shot at Apple after the company ditches Chiat/Day, the ad agency that created the iconic “1984” Macintosh ad. In a full-page ad published in The Wall Street Journal, Jobs says the move to competing ad agency BBDO shows that “caretakers” rather than “builders” now run Apple.

From his perspective, it confirms that the company he co-founded has lost its revolutionary spirit.

May 21, 2010: Apple quietly ends its award-winning “Get a Mac” ad campaign. Debuting in 2006, the ads starred actor Justin Long as the cool, youthful Mac. Comedian John Hodgman portrayed the stuffy, awkward PC.

Alongside the “Think Different” and iPod “Silhouette” campaigns, “Get a Mac” will become one of the most fondly remembered extended advertising blitzes in Apple history.

Samsung’s new “UnCrush” ad aims to capitalize on the backlash to Apple’s “Crush!” ad for the M4 iPad Pro. The South Korean company’s ad, released Wednesday, is a clear response to Apple’s controversial video, which showed a hydraulic press crushing musical instruments, toys and art supplies.

Samsung’s ad shows a woman playing a song on a battered guitar — using a Samsung Galaxy tablet to display the sheet music, naturally. You can see both ads below.

January 22, 1984: Apple’s stunning “1984” commercial for the Macintosh 128K airs on CBS during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII.

Probably the most famous TV ad for a computer in history, the commercial is directed by Alien and Blade Runner helmer Ridley Scott. It very nearly didn’t air, though.

January 20, 1985: Attempting to build on the triumph of the previous year’s “1984” Macintosh commercial, Apple deploys another dystopian Super Bowl commercial. The new ad, titled “Lemmings,” promotes the company’s upcoming business platform, called The Macintosh Office.

The dark, 30-second spot depicts blindfolded executives marching to their doom. The widely reviled ad will go down in history as one of Apple’s biggest stinkers.

January 17, 1984: A week before its famous airing during Super Bowl XVIII, Apple’s iconic “1984” ad debuts as a trailer in movie theaters.

To hype its revolutionary new Macintosh computer, Apple buys several months of promotion from theatrical ad distributor ScreenVision. Cupertino’s sci-fi-tinged “1984” spot — which depicts a sledgehammer-wielding freedom fighter taking on a Big Brother figure supposed to represent IBM — gets such a favorable audience reaction that some theater owners continue to roll the ad after Apple’s contract ends.

Apple’s fun new Get Ready video for the upcoming Vision Pro headset is clearly intended to ratchet up the hype for the spatial computing device scheduled for release in early February.

The new advert shows a wide range of celebrities putting on visors in iconic film roles. That makes it strongly reminiscent of a 2007 ad released before the launch of the original iPhone.

In the wake of Elon Musk posting his support for an antisemitic comment on X, Apple reportedly paused advertising on the social-networking service that Musk owns.

Disney, IBM and Lionsgate have also supposedly stopped advertising on the service formerly known as Twitter.

Even if a yellow iPhone 14 or 14 Plus isn’t your thing, you should really check out Apple’s video advert for the new product. It’s like totally trippy, man.

Turn on, tune in, drop out.

August 18, 2014: A Christmas-themed iPhone ad lands Apple an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Commercial of the Year.”

The prize-winning spot is Apple’s “Misunderstood” iPhone 5s ad. It depicts a silent teenager who won’t spend time with his family at Christmas because he’s too busy with his iPhone. At the end of the ad, he reveals that he’s not actually being a misanthrope. He used his iPhone and iMovie to shoot and edit a heartwarming family montage!

Apple is going further into the ad business. Soon, a paid advertisment will be added to the Today tab of the App Store. And a paid link will be added to the product pages for individual applications.

These will join the Search Ads that are already included in the App Store.

Apple acting as an advertising broker is likely to be controversial because the company has taken a strong stance on targeted ads provided by Google, Facebook and others.

The iPhone’s wireless payment system is more secure than credit cards, and Apple wants to make sure everyone knows it. That’s why the company created three short video ads to show off the advantages of Apple Pay.

Watch them now to learn more about the contactless payment system built into certain Apple devices.

What would you do if you walked into a room to discover a creepy auction of your personal data going on? That’s the premise of a new Apple video.

The goal is to highlight the many privacy tools iPhone offers to prevent online tracking.

Editor’s note: We originally published this illustrated history of the iPod to celebrate the device’s 10th anniversary on Oct. 22, 2011 (and updated it a decade later). We republished it on May 10, 2022, when Apple finally pulled the plug on the iPod.

The iPod grew out of Steve Jobs’ digital hub strategy. Life was going digital. People were plugging all kinds of devices into their computers: digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players.

The computer was the central device, the “digital hub,” that could be used to edit photos and movies or manage a large music library. Jobs tasked Apple’s programmers with making software for editing photos, movies and managing digital music. While they were doing this, they discovered that all the early MP3 players were horrible. Jobs asked his top hardware guy, Jon Rubinstein, to see if Apple could do better.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Services, is reportedly looking to restructure the company’s offerings to make a more significant push in streaming and advertising.

Apple’s services business has been growing rapidly over the last few years. It currently boasts more than 825 million paid subscribers.

In a new ad, Mad Men star Jon Hamm scrolls through the movies and shows on Apple TV+ and notes a conspicuous lack of Jon Hamm.

“Hey Apple, did I do something to offend you?” the actor asks.

Apple turned to country music legend Dolly Parton, Squarespace and the Super Bowl to promote Shazam and a new deal on Cupertino’s streaming music service.

You can use Shazam when listening to Parton’s just-released 5 to 9 advertisement to get five free months of Apple Music. That’s two months more than the usual offer.