STORY:
Apple Bets on Y2K

Still riding the coattails of a commercial it ran to great acclaim 15 Super Bowls ago, Apple Computer returned to the Super Bowl with the television debut of an ad about the year 2000 problem. Apple showed a 60-second ad after kickoff that contends Macintosh computers aren't affected by the year 2000 problem. The company will use HAL, the computer from "2001: A Space Odyssey," to make its argument.

"HAL is the perfect spokesperson to address the Y2K issue because he lives in the year 2001 and can speak from experience," said Steve Jobs, Apple's interim chief executive, in a statement. According to a report in CBS's MarketWatch, this will not be the first time Apple has used a Super Bowl spot to address fears about technology. The company put its name in the advertising history books with its revolutionary "1984" commercial, which ran during the Super Bowl that year and introduced the world to the company's Macintosh computer.

Handling the ad will be the same firm that did "1984" and Apple's "Think Different" ads, TBWA/Chiat/Day. In its famous "1984" commercial, Apple used the premise of a "Big Brother" society and a freedom fighter who busts through an Orwellian audience. The commercial took a shot at competitors like IBM (IBM) that weren't making the most user-friendly computers. The ad implied that the Macintosh would be easy to use and would free computer users from a world resembling the George Orwell novel "1984."

The "1984" spot is widely credited with setting the standard for commercials aired during the Super Bowl, now a premier ad showcase. But this is no longer 1984, and, in classic '90s style, people don't even need to watch the Super Bowl to see the new Apple ad. It's been available online for weeks and was introduced by Jobs at the Macworld exposition in San Francisco last month.

Since it put the ad online Jan. 5, Apple said it's registered 250,000 downloads. The company decided to pay the big bucks for a Super Bowl slot "based on ... phenomenal viewer response."

DATE: 2/05/99

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