After watching all the 1984 commercials, use the comments section to share your thoughts, and answer at least one of these questions. Read the comments of your fellow classmates and reply to at least one.
- Who is Big Brother in each of these later commercials?
- Who does the girl with the hammer now represent?
- Here’s how Adweek covered this latest iteration of the 1984 ad:
- And because this is 2020, we have a website and a hashtag to accompany Epic’s video.
In each of these videos Big Brother is the person on the screen. Big Brother is promoting conformity while there is always the one character who is there to put it end to it and represent uniqueness . The colors play a huge role in the message because everything is black and white including Big Brother, while the only different character in color throws the hammer and breaks the screen symbolizing that Macintosh will be different than anything else. The advertisement with the Barbies sends a similar message. Barbies make young girls think they need to be perfect, but the ad was promoting a new doll that didn’t look perfect like all the other ones and that it’s okay to stand out and be unique.
Very good point on color use and its impact in the commercial
Very good point on color use and its impact in the commercial.
Very good point on color use and its impact in the commercial.
The girl with the hammer in all these commercials represent change in a bland society where everyone is the same and there is no diversity. It shows how brainwashing it can be to try to “fit in” with society but at the end of it all what does it mean if your not your own person. Destroying the large tv symbolized that there’s more to life than being like everyone else, because without all these similarities that make you “validated”, your left with just yourself.
I agree with you . She does seem like she wants to be different.
The girl represents someone who wants to be different then everyone else. She does not want to be a zombie to society . She decides to take down the man on the screen who was considered the leader (Big brother ) to show how everyone has there own voice to . Which shows us how apple was using her image as a way to show that the new Mac will be different then all the other computers.
I agree, I feel like by destroying the TV, the girl with the hammer is trying to free the brainwashed people that represent society and show them a different way to live.
In the second video Big Brother is Hilary Clinton and she represents the democratic party at the time. The third video has little girls in line to receive their factory made doll. In the video Big Brother is actually named “Big Sister” and is promoting typical gender conformity stating “You are beauty and beauty is perfection” but then a girl dressed differently from the rest uses a hammer to smash a screen, this action represents a destruction of gender norms. The little girl then picks up a doll that is dressed as a zip liner. Finally in the last video we have Apple as Big Brother and Fortnight as the disruptor.
Each “1984” ad parody shares two things in common: a “big brother” figure that represents a product or figure that’s mainstream and controls the market, and one lady with a hammer who represents non-conformity.
The “big brother” figure is always captured as treacherous and brainwashing, while the non-conforming appears to be the hero that’s trying to prevent the fictional “1984” dystopia from becoming reality.
I agree with you, I like the way you worded the different ways that big brother does in every video. It really relates to each scene.
I think that Big Brother in each of these commercials is supposed to be someone who people should listen to and follow. But in a way that you yourself have no control. You have to obey the rules, its all black and white. While the girl with the hammer is trying to break that. Not follow only what is being given. Trying to help others leave the same loop that everyone is entranced by.
Exactly. I wonder how this ad will be used again in the future.