Analyzing Television
Commercials
Chapter 9
Mini-Video or Film Dramas
 TV commercials are much more complex than print
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advertisements
They can have many more elements in them
Such as narrative, dialogue, music, various shots and
editing techniques
TV “spots” or “CXs” store much more information
than do print ads with photographs
Each frame or image in a TV spot is, in a sense,
similar to a print ad
15 Questions to Ask about TV Commercials
 Plot of the narrative?
 How is sound used? Is
 Characters are in the CX?
 Describe their faces
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 What do they say to each
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other?
Where does the CX take
place?
Are props used?
How is color used?
Describe the lighting
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there music? What kind?
What kinds of shots?
Editing techniques?
Are there intertextual
references? References
to other works? Parodies,
well-known characters?
Does the CX rely on
background knowledge?
What role does the
product have in society?
Apple’s “1984” Commercial
 Aired once and only once during the 1984 Super
Bowl, this 60 second CX is considered one of the best
and most complex ever
 Apple founder/CEO Steve Jobs unveils never-beforeseen commercial prior to the Super Bowl (here)
 Ridley Scott discusses directing this commercial (here)
 Apple’s iconic 1984 ad- 25 years later (CNET article)
The Text and its Imagery
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Orwell’s “1984” book
Repression
Storm troopers
Heavy boots
Prisoners/Inmates
Uniforms
Brainwashing
“Marching Zombies”
Blond woman in white
Sledgehammer
Broken television screen
“Big Brother” figure
Heroine as mythic figure
battling a monolithic monster
 “Big Blue” IBM as the enemy
 A big explosion
 A short, simple message at the
end:
 On January 24th, Apple
Computers will introduce
Macintosh and you will see
why 1984 won’t be like
“1984.”
 Implies this new computer
has enormous political and
social implications
 It has the power to save us
from ending up like prisoners,
victims of a totalitarian state
Clever Marketing Strategy
 Apple and the Chiat/Day ad agency that designed “1984” took
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an unusual approach
It focused not so much on the benefits derived from using a
Macintosh but instead on the dangers inherent in not using
one
The ending implied in the “1984”
commercial focused on the avoidance
of something hateful rather than gaining
something desirable
Not a huge success in sales- 17,000 sold first day– well below
expectations, but a brilliant brand launch which put Apple
and its Macintosh more in the home computer conversation in
a unique and positive way for the company
And the rest is….history!