The Apple computers have always been associated with modernism, with their increased processing times, high-quality displays, and a nearly-weightless, sleek design.  But on December 31st, 1983, the young Steve Jobs and his infant company took "futuristic" to a whole new level. When Apple was ready to release their very first Macintosh computer, they released a very controversial advertisement on the eve of a new year. This advertisement not only introduced the world to an oncoming era of technology, but also was able to draw public interest by connecting the real world on the brink of the year 1984 to a much-celebrated story about the very same year. George Orwell's story "1984", an eye-opening scientific-fiction story about the potential future of the world, has remained relevant in classrooms and literary settings alike even today because of its blatant warnings about what a single-ideological society would look like. The first-ever broadcasted Macintosh commercial is a direct allusion to the famous novel "1984" because even though the playtime is under a minute, there are numerous similarities in setting and character between the televised advertisement and the internationally acclaimed story of a dystopian future.

The scene is set inside an industrial-looking building, with people emerging from a large doorway into a long, crowded hallway in a conveyor-belt fashion. Everything within the building is grey, white, or black, with an eerie grey-blue lighting to match. The only sounds, beside the pounding footsteps of people marching in unison, is the voice of a man on several television sets hanging from the walls; each one playing the same video of the man announcing about the future of the civilization. This draws exactly to the novel "1984" because the story is set in a dystopian society named Oceania (once known as North and South America, England, southern Africa, and Australia) where everyone and everything looks the same. People are required to have cameras and microphones in their homes, as well as televisions so that the face of the government, "Big Brother", may watch over the population in search of any signs of dissent, while constantly feeding the masses a stream of pro-government propaganda. 

The characters of the commercial are the largest draw between the two versions of 1984. There are two types of characters; the groups of people and the individuals. The first set of grouped people is the general population of the society; they are the first people the audience sees. They obviously outnumber the soldiers but are clearly being forced into conformity and obedience. They are all dressed in the same modest long grey coats, thick grey rubber boots, baggy grey pants, and also have shaved heads and no other form of decoration. This particular style stripped the people of all their identity and personality; the audience cannot even tell males apart from females. By taking away all of these features, the director, world-famous Ridley Scott, is implying that all the people are the same; dull, repetitive, and replaceable. This is also stated in Orwell's story; many characters in the story are killed without a second glance because they were considered by the government to be too forward thinking. The second group of people is the guards. There is a police force in the story "1984", known as the Thought Police, whose job is to hunt down and kill anyone who dares defy Big Brother. The Thought Police track down violators of "thought crime" (thinking against Big Brother's command) by watching them through the cameras that constantly watches the population and monitoring their actions. The Thought Police are also represented in the commercial; seen from the beginning, dressed in all black SWAT-like body armor, riot gear, and wielding large nightsticks as they chase after the protagonist. 

There are two main characters in the commercial; the protagonist, who is a young female athlete, and the antagonist, who is a giant head projected onto every screen. The young athlete, played by Anya Major, is never named, but is immediately targeted as the hero of the story because of the contrast she provides to the context. While the setting is entirely monochromatic and dull, she is dressed in a revealing, bright-red athletic uniform. On her tight tank top is the rough outline design of the Macintosh computer. Additionally, her tanned skin, bleach blonde hair, and athletic figure imply that she has spent much time working hard outside, unlike her pale and almost ghostly counterparts. Major's character also holds a long sledgehammer, which she swings like she is in a hammer throw competition, then finally hurls it at the giant screen, which everyone is watching, and breaks it. This character fits with George Orwell's idea of having people in the dystopia who rebel against the government and attempt to break free of the rules. The other main character, played by David Graham, is the face of an older man with thick square glasses projected on every miniature television screen in the long processional hallway and the enormous screen in the main room. Besides the voiceover in the end of the commercial, Graham's character delivers the only visibly-spoken line; a speech about the success of the "Information Purification Detectives" (Apple) and how "we have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology " (Apple) and how "our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth" (Apple). This speech, delivered by the giant face on a screen, mirrors Orwell's Big Brother character and personal message. Big Brother is the face of the Party, the single political group in the nation. His image is the one used on all propaganda broadcasts, as well as giant posters hung up around the city proclaiming, "Big Brother is watching you!" to all viewers. Big Brother's face and voice is a constant reminder and a warning about what would befall a political dissident; inevitable discovery, unavoidable capture, and certain torture by the Ministry. An off-screen narrator, who says two simple sentences, delivers the very last line in the advertisement; "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'" (Apple). The deep male voice, paired with the on-screen typed lines in Apple's famous Garamond font, implies a that the release of the Macintosh computer will prevent the possibility of such an apocalyptic state from happening. That by buying a new Apple computer, one is personally help put an end to the takeover of a single government party and helping create a colorful revolution of modernism.

Since the release of the first Macintosh computer, Apple has been known to trend towards modern ideas and designs. This began with their first advertisement about their first product, introduced to the world on the night before a well-known year, made famous by a short George Orwell novel written forty years before the actual year 1984. One of the reasons that this advertisement has become famous, out of the millions of televised advertisements between 1984 to 2015, is because of the blatant references between the promotion of a computer and an English short story that is known as one of the most read books in modern literature. Apple's first on-air commercial for the Macintosh is a direct allusion to the famous novel "1984" by George Orwell because the setting and the characters in the advertisement make several references to the story of an apocalyptic world that could have been.

