Acts of Cultural Vandalism #1 - Advertising the Personal Computer

The most significant technological development of the late-20th century is the Personal Computer (or PC). Until the 1970s it was nearly unthinkable that one day it was possible to have a computer more powerful than ENIAC that is also small and light enough to place on an office desk (without crushing it). It was the result of years of tinkering by electronic nerds in California. However, after they finished their tinkering, how do you demonstrate it to the public. It was the 1970s. People were managing well with their lives without computers and businesses and organizations were happy with their humongous mainframe machines. How could you advertise a product that was  (ad-libbing from Douglas Adams) "An ingenious solution to a problem that doesn't exist" .... let. Its a problem all "ingenious solutions" faced when they were new and no one had found a use for... let. 

Below is (from 1977) one of the first ever TV ads for the first consumer personal computer - the Apple II.*

*For the ignorant who are wondering what happened to the Apple I, the Apple I (introduced in 1976) was a circuit-board with connectors.  You had to provide your own casing, keyboard and monitor. The Apple II came in a single plastic casing with built-in keyboard. All you needed was to provide a monitor (any old TV set was enough) and load in the software (by a cassette deck or separate floppy disk drive).

Apple II ad (1977)

This ad sums up exactly how people saw and used the first personal computers. They were toys. Expensive boys toys with flashing colours and little practical use, like radio-controlled planes or pinball machines. They wern't something you could see a woman use. As this ad from 1977, featuring Dick Cravett, shows, from the very beginning of personal computing, manufacturers have tried to address the gender balance.

Apple II ad featuring Dick Cravett and a "homemaker" (1977)

But this isn't the first time a computer manufacturer has tried to get women into computing. Below is a quite patronizing print ad for the Honeywell 316 from 1969.

Ad for the Honeywell 316 (1969)

As you can see, Honeywell thought that a computer could help with everything from remembering recipes to... recommending recipes for tonight's dinner (nothing about checking stock market prices, though). Despite its misgivings, this ad was the first to show a computer as a consumer product.

For more click the link below.

 Honeywell 316

Comparing this to the Apple ad less than a decade later, we can see that Apple was (and still is in some aspects) a far-thinking company. They didn't see computers as just simple number-crunching machines that were only used by a few mathematicians, they saw computers as something that could be used by everyone (including women). The computer had to shake off its image of been a machine you find in a science lab.

For that to happen the computer first had to change its appearance. For anything that needs an image change, it can be done in two ways. One, change the actual thing (in the case of computers that was done by redesigning the actual machines to make them more "user-friendly"). Or two, change its cultural or public image (through advertising). As this blog is about the advertising of PCs, I'm not going to bother writing about how desktop computers changed in their design during the 1970s. This is about the ads and how they were made into everyday consumer product we are familiar with today.

One way that was done was to show they were sophisticated machines (like hi-fi systems or video recorders), with lists of specs and some computer-generated graphics in the ad, like this one from 1982 for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum ad (1982)

Another way was to show the computer as something that was cool to have. Sometime to impress the girls (its the 1980s remember). For example, here's an ad from Australia in 1985 for the Commodore 64, the most successful  single model of personal computer ever sold (selling between 12.5 to 17million during its lifetime).

Australian Commodore 64 ad (1985)

The biggest symbol of all, show how important a new product is today is celebrity endorsement. In the early-1980s Texas Instruments got Bill Cosby to endorse their computers.

Texas Instruments ad featuring Bill Cosby (early-1980s?)

Of course, a better celebrity to endorse a computer would be someone from the world of sci-fi.... like William Shatner (here endorsing the Commodore VIC-20, launched in 1981).

Commodore VIC-20 ad featuring William Shatner (early-1980s)

Of course, for most of the 1980s, most personal computers were bought as educational devices for children, so many computer ads in the early-1980s had kids in them using the advertised product. Computers were sold to schools as well to educate kids how to program them. With a computer at home, parents were assured that their kids were getting an education for a hi-tech future. But, as we all know now, most kids just wanted a computer just to play (and sometimes create) games.

This ad for the Acorn Electron in 1984 shows that some parents got into them as well, like the dad who plays with the new train set, not allowing the kid a shot.

Acorn Electron UK ad (1984)

Acorn was a big player in computers in the UK, been the makers of the BBC Microcomputer for a government education scheme to make the UK the most computer-literate country in the World. But the Electron was a failure, due to the slump in the computer market (they were too many computers to choose from and everyone who wanted one had already bought one).

By 1983 the personal computer began to be treated as a very serious product (especially as a business machine). But as the technology was new, trying to tell customers what made their machine great (and better than any other machine that was out) was a challenge. Only people who meddled with electronics knew what RAM and clock-speeds were and knew what the figures meant.

Here's one example how it was done, an ad from the now legendary mid-1980s ad campaign for Compaq Computers starring John Cleese. In this ad (possibly from 1986) John compares the capabilities of the Compaq Portable 2 (something that was mysterious to most people at the time) with a dead fish (something most people knew about at the time).

Compaq Portable 2 ad featuring John Cleese (c1986)

There is more from John later.

This is an ad for the Sinclair QL (meaning "Quantum Leap") from 1984, featuring Clive Sinclair leaping over the competition.

Sinclair QL UK ad (1984)

Sadly, this was Sinclair's last personal computer, before making the disastrous C5 electric trike, which bankrupted the company, resulting it been bought by Amstrad in 1986.

In 1985, AT&T entered the desktop computer market with this ad, saying it was future-proof.

AT&T desktop ad (1985)

It was a very competitive market by then. This ad (also from AT&T in 1985) compares the PC market as a board game.

AT&T desktop ad (1985)

Here's an Australian ad for the Amstrad 6128 from 1986, advertised at a price that seemed to have driven the competition mad.

Australian Amstrad ad (1986)

And that's how Amstrad took over the UK computer market in the late-1980s. Low prices and IBM compatibility.

But for all the computer companies, the ultimate rivalry was between IBM (the big company that was late in adapting their products for the coming new information age) and Apple Computers (the first to beat them to it). This rivalry is expressed in one of the greatest TV ads in the 20th century, the 1984 Superbowl Orwellian Macintosh ad, directed by Ridley Scott.

Apple Macintosh "1984" ad

So what was so special about the Macintosh? I'll let this ad tell you...

Apple Macintosh 128K ad (1984)

And for the British market....

UK Apple Macintosh ad (1984)

Astonishing. And it explains why the desktop of all computers look like what they are, with its "folders" and its "waste basket." Which ad do you think was better? The first ad showed the actual product at use, while the other tried to explain its features in a creative way (without showing how they done on the actual machine). I may be bias towards the British ad (as I am British) but I do understand the merits of the American ad in explaining how the new machine works by actually showing how it works (sounds kind of typically American from this aspect).

A year later, Apple made another (less remembered) ad for the Superbowl. This ad, called "Lemmings" shows blindfolded business men marching off a cliff humming "Hi ho, Hi ho, its off to work we go." Its a visual metaphor of businesses blindingly buying IBM products without considering looking at Apple products.

Apple Macintosh "Lemmings" ad (1985)

That ad was a failure. By 1984, computers were improving. Processors were getting faster and more memory was becoming available for desktop machines. Both these changes led to the biggest leap in technology - the GUI. The Graphics User Interface (the windows and drop menu screens that you are familiar with now) made computers more accessible to people who couldn't learn to type programming code.  To begin with, only Apple computers had this feature, but soon IBM PCs gained that ability (courtney of Microsoft's Windows).

Here's an ad for the Apple IIc from 1984, showing what are you getting in just a small package.

Apple IIc ad (1984)

And here's another also from 1984, taking a swipe at its main rival the IBM PC jr.

Apple IIc ad comparing it to the IBM PC jr (1984)

But, it was a bit too late for Apple, as companies like Compaq were beginning to flood the market with "PC clones" which were reversed engineered IBM PCs (only cheaper). But the name "IBM" still had an authority in the computing market, like Coca-cola has over soft drinks. These ads were a more successful swipe at this "blind devotion" to a "well-known name."

And here's one to take a swipe at supposed Apple buyers.

It was great to have celebrities  (like John Cleese) to endorse your product, but it seemed that the celebrity is as clueless as most people are about the product that's been advertised, as this ad clearly demonstrates.

In fact, sometimes people had questioned whether what the companies were selling was what they say they are, with the celebrities who were endorsing these new fangled computers worried about their reputations, as this ad jokingly demonstrates.

But as new machines came about, they had to show that you have to ignore all their previous machines to get the best, as this ad hints at.

But even in the PC fever of the mid-1980s most people still didn't know what the specs mean. Some advertisers have tried to address this problem by poking fun at our ignorance, as seen in this ad.

But that wasn't the only problem, another problem was that saying the specs was the most boring part of any commercial fro any computer. Some advertisers have tried to address this problem too, as seen in this ad.

In fact it got to the point that viewers needed an distraction to keep watching the ad, as seen in this ad.

Eventually, it reached a point where it seemed pointless saying the specs, as seen in this ad for the Compaq Deskpro 386 in 1986.

Meanwhile, in Britain, in 1987 Amstrad advertised their "word processors" with the help of the greatest expert in speaking gobbledygook in the English-speaking world - Professor Stanley Unwin. This is probably the best ad ever to demonstrate the greatest feature of every self-made word processor - spell-check.

Amstrad UK ad featuring Stanley Unwin (1987)

And here's Professor Unwin again two years later telling you that you can exchange your old "tripewriter" for  a new word processor at a discounted price.

Amstrad UK ad featuring Stanley Unwin (1989)

This ad indicates that they were still many tripewrit... I mean, typewriters in use in the western world by the time the Berlin Wall came down. I can still remember messing around with my mother's electric typewriter as a child in the mid-1990s (The family had a PC then, but my mother never used it (and still doesn't to this day)). But their days were numbered as this ad (also from Amstrad) clearly shows.

Amstrad PCW8256 ad (late-1980s)

By 1990, the IBM PC (and its numerous clones) was the most dominant computer format in business. With the IBM PC been the "standard" for all personal computers, it was now possible to make a simple introductory one-does-everything machine that is compatible with everything else (except Macs), like this Headstart desktop (designed by Vendex). This ad is from the late-1980s and features the wrestler King Kong Bundy.

Headstart Computer ad (late-1980s)

But, Apple didn't go down without a fight, saying that people prefer their computers, as they were designed to be as user-friendly as possible, as this ad from 1990 shows.

Apple Macintosh ad (1990)

By the time of this ad, people had finally got use to desktop computers and they realized that the specs were irreverent when it came to the things most people used them at the time - spreadsheets, word-processing, and doing very difficult math. But in 1990, there was a sense that these machines were capable of more, as this Apple ad also from 1990 shows.

Apple "Industrial Revelation" ad (1990)

In the late-1980s and early-1990s, there was a feeling that something big was going to happen in the world. An information revolution led by computer nerds in IT clubs. In 1990 they were 101million personal computers in the world. Computers were getting trendy, as this French ad from Amstrad from 1990 demonstrates by the use of rap music and a crocodile.

1990 French Amstrad ad

Despite this, the popularity of computers were a sign of something big. At the time it was thought that the big thing that was coming was interactive multimedia (as said in Douglas Adams' 1990 BBC Two programme Hyperland) and virtual reality (according to films like The Lawnmower Man). But the real revolution was bought about by something only a few saw coming... the Interweb.

AOL ad from 1995

By 1995 they were 235million computers, but most of them were PCs (based on the IBM PC format) running Windows. They were cheaper than Macs, but they were more prone to errors, viruses.... I don't need to tell you this. You all already know all that.

Here's an ad from Apple from 1995, which takes a swipe at Windows.

Apple "Crowd Control" ad (1995)

This ad from the US in 1999 highlights that by the late-1990s their was a second-hand PC market, and like every second-hand product market you can't sure what you are getting until you buy it.

Gateway PC ad (1999)

However, although it was possible to buy a PC at a discounted price, you still had trouble with the software, especially when it comes to installing Windows, as this ad (obviously from Apple) demonstrates.

Apple Macintosh "Christmas Nightmare" ad (c1995)

By 2000, they were 500million personal computers in the world (all crashing their way through life calculating tax returns, chatting away on dating sites, playing solitaire and downloading low-resolution pornography).

To show how far we had come (and still how ignorant we were about the workings of computers), Apple made this ad in 1999. It not only demonstrates how far the computer has come since 1969, it also exploits our ignorance (and attack their rivals) by saying that their computers were immune to the Millennium Bug.

Apple "HAL" ad (1999)

Of course, the Millennium Bug turned out to be just a bit of hot air. The result of years of people getting use to the use of computers in their lives and can't imagining a life without them with little knowledge of how they actually work. But in the end the personal computer is an amazing development. An achievement of late-20th century electronics and commerce. Here's an ad from 1998 starring Leonard Nimoy, advertising like it was a "time machine" (The company was called Time Computers).

Time Computers ad featuring Leonard Nimoy (1998)

This turns out to be one of the last PC ads of this kind. PCs were no longer advertised as functional machines. They had become life-style accessories (regardless of function).

In the late-1990s, something happened to the look of computers. In 1998 Apple introduced the iMac, a radical move from the beige box-look that dominated desktop computers since the 1980s.

Apple iMac from 1998 (excuse the image quality, it was taken by me eons ago in high school)

This ad from 1998 highlights this new trend.

Apple iMac G3 "colours" ad (1998)

It was (like the original Macintosh) a simple machine to use. You can just plug it in and use it to surf the web instantly, as this ad (also from 1998) demonstrates (with Jeff Goldblum as the voice-over).

Apple iMac G3 ad (1998)

Since then, the look of a device became a factor in the selling of computers. The RAM and clock-speeds were irreverent now. Everyone wanted a desktop just to surf the web (the main reason people bought them). This ad from 2002 is a notable example of the PC ads that appeared in the early-2000s.

Apple iMac G4 ad (2002)

Since then, desktop computers in general have become irreverent, with advertising now mostly adverting notebooks, netbooks, PDAs, tablets.... basically, more portable computers. As this edition of Cultural Vandalism is getting very long, I'm going to end it here and save the advertising of portable computers (and game consoles) for another day. Until then, please remember to update your anti-virus software and keep surfing (regardless what machine you use).

Bye....