DoubleTwist Remakes Apple’s Classic 1984 Ad With A New Dictator: Steve Jobs
by Jason Kincaid on September 29, 2009

On January 22, 1984 during the third quarter of the SuperBowl, Apple broadcast one of the most famous television commercials of all time. Based on a dystopian future George Orwell described in his novel 1984, the ad features a procession of soulless drones trudging into a large room to listen to the unquestioned words of their dictator whose face is being projected on a large screen. Moments later, a beautiful woman bounds into the room, evading capture by armed guards by only a few meters, and hurls a large hammer into the screen that explodes in a dazzling display of light. And so we were introduced to the Macintosh, Apple’s new weapon to take on the monolithic IBM.

What a difference 25 years can make. Now Apple has grown from underdog to a tyrant in its own right, preventing other devices from tapping into its iTunes software and restricting what users can install on the iPhones that they’ve purchased. And doubleTwist, which makes software that lets you use iTunes seamlessly with other devices, is calling it out in spectacular fashion. They’ve just unveiled their new commercial (embedded below) that’s nearly a shot-for-shot remake, featuring an army of iPod-wearing clones sitting in silence as their master — sporting Steve Jobs’ familiar round glasses — commands that “no other choices shall distract from our glory”.



The ad closes with the statement that “on October 6th, doubleTwist brings you Choice”. The company says that a major new release will be coming out that day for Mac users (followed a week later for Windows), but said that the new feature they’re unveiling is a surprise. doubleTwist is also exploring showing the ad in movie theaters before previews begin.

This isn’t DoubleTwist’s first direct attack on Apple. In June, the company pulled an incredibly gutsy move and legally purchased ad space for one side of San Francisco’s flagship Apple Store that invited passersby to “try The Cure for iPhone Envy”, that could put your iTunes library on any device. Apple pulled strings and had the ad quickly taken down. Soon after doubleTwist managed to have it put up once again, only to have Apple pressure the advertising company to have it removed for a second time. Talk about Big Brother.

You can find the original Apple ad here

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  • Ha, about time people are pointing out the Apple isn’t what they used to stand for,

  • I lol’d.
    There are obviously parallels between Apple now, and the IBMs/Microsofts they hoped to thwart in the 80s.

    It’s all about creating a market dominance, and then formulating an environment that maintains that market dominance.

  • What could that mysterious feature be….Palm Pre support? I think so

  • I’m an Apple fanboy and even I see the writing on the wall. Great video!

  • its a good idea but 99% of their target demo wont understand the connection here. If this wasn’t prefaced by Jason then I probably wouldn’t have understood the context.

    • Who exactly would that 99% be? I for one didn’t grasp the fullness of the ad; I hadn’t linked that it was a direct copycat of an Apple add itself. Yet even if some people don’t get the Job’s “cameo” most will pick up on the Orwellian themes and the classic iPod buds. In fact personally I thought they were mocking the iPod ads with their “silhouette” style drones :D
      Even if you don’t get the full context, most will get the message.

      • I think they will get that it mocks apple, but not in the satirical way they were going for. Until now I’ve never heard of that superbowl commercial as I was 2 years old when it occurred. So while the ad may be somewhat effective as a blunt attack, the satirical “shock” factor is lackluster. The 99%, loose stat, I was referring to is people outside of the coastal tech circles who will just assume Doubletwist is a new microsoft product since they are accustomed to seeing attacks on apple from those guys.

        I’m just not a fan of ads that don’t explain the product, buzz doesn’t translate to customers, startups should know that.

        • You do not understand marketing at all. Metaphors are ground work for many ads. It is hard to fit in an hr info commercial into a 30 sec ad. Buzz or word of mouth marketing does translate into customers. You should research marketing theories. This article put this company on my radar.

          Just to let you know this commercial is one of the most used commercials when teaching advertising (25 years later). It is usually used when teaching the use of metaphors in advertising.

          • still not convinced…

            I acknowledged that the ad may work on a core attack ad level.. but i shouldn’t have to read through textbook examples for advertising metaphors to get the joke. Aside from that, as other commenters point out, the ad’s quality is poor. Perhaps if it was quality animation or 3D it would be more arresting.

    • The 1984 Macintosh ad is one of the most famous superbowl commercials of all time (inb4 Kanye reference).

      I’m serious, though.

  • You gotta love this. It’s nice to see pressure on Apple to open up their restrictive software. I hope doubleTwist succeeds in this battle as it would be good for everyone.

  • Good movie – but the credit is 30% of the length of the movie – hmmm…some egos there me think.

  • Wow, that’s some bad animation. Thought it was a Heavy Metal remake, not an 1984-Super Bowl ad remake, for a minute there.

  • I’m calling it now.

    The secret feature = ZuneHD support.

  • So its a updated tunes player? Big deal. No one has really heard of this… and no one will really hear of it in the future. It will have a small following and the rest of us people will be just as happy with iTunes.

    Apple isn’t as bad as the widely biased TechCrunch makes them out to be. TC should go back to their MS ass kissing.

    • Now just read Chris’ comment again and put it into a robot voice. It would be perfect addendum for the video.

      • Or you can be just anti-Apple/Steve just because your buddy sitting next to you says it as well. Honestly… do most of these people even know why they hate Apple or Steve? Doubt it? And don’t say “They don’t like open source” because 99% of you don’t know what the hell that means.

      • Oh, and don’t give me shit about how they refuse to accept some applications on the iPhone like TC LOVES to complain about. You mean it doesn’t want competitors on its platform? Whaaaa?? HOW EVIL. You mean it doesn’t want shitty programs on its platform? Whaaaaa???? HOW EVIL.

        The reason why apple is so popular is because of QUALITY CONTROL. Look it up one day apple hater, or shall I call you a fanboy of MS or Linux? Or just a douche?

        Point is, is that Apple isn’t evil like TC likes to make them out to be. NO ONE is forcing your hand to buy Apple products. No one is forcing you to use Apple software.

        • I would like to develop for the iPhones without buying an overpriced machine that is happens to have Snow Leopard installed. Tell me, what quality control is involved in preventing VMware from running OS X?

          Go cry to back issues of MacAddict.

        • Hahahaha. You made me laugh. Apple products are crap. Look at the Macbook Air. Typical of the Apple “form over function” design philosophy.

          I hate Apple for various reasons, not that I expect a Steve Jobs Cultist like you to even grasp within your diminutive intelligence or even think beyond what your messiah Steve Jobs tells you to. They aren’t vehemently against open source, but they sure as hell exploit it and barely contribute back to it, that’s plenty to get the ire of the FOSS people, and for good reason. Way too much open source software’s been made proprietary in OS X alone.

          The iPhone is a joke. Aside from gimmicks, it does nothing… *nothing…* one couldn’t do with a Treo or Blackberry over five years ago. Oh wait, I can name a few things my old Treo can do that the iPhone can’t: MMS, e-mail, and most importantly, allowing me to run whatever the hell I want on it. I can develop for it without having to root the thing. The only reason Apple locked the iPhone down was money. There’s plenty of crappy apps in their app store for the iPhone, trust me. On the Android I just have to hit a little checkmark and I can put whatever the hell I want on their, including my own code. Probably because Android devices, unlike the iPhone, are actually open.

          I can feed you whatever reasons I want for why Apple stinks. The iPhone is locked down, overhyped, and overpriced, just like all other Apple products.

          It wasn’t always so, back when Steve Wozniak still worked for Apple they actually made computers that were worthwhile. You can thank your little hero, Steve Jobs, for chasing him off.

          It is evil to not want competitors on the platform. And it is evil to block “shitty” programs on the iPhone.

          By the way, before you start calling other people a fanboy, you should know that every last bullshit thing you said in your post there: SCREAMS Apple fanboy. Especially the “us versus them” mentality and blindly worphiping everything Apple does as “quality” or “superior.”

          I bet, when Microsoft is criticized for trying to lock-out competitors for Windows (As Apple constantly does, and IS an illegal act.) you don’t say a word, just like a typical Steve Jobs Cultist.

          • Your comment was so funny that it made me snort some milk out of my nose, and that’s a big deal because I’m not drinking milk right now. I’m glad there are emotionally stunted twits like you around who hate abstract things that have little to do with their day to day lives so passionately, because it makes the rest of us seem normal. So thanks.

  • the difference? nobody gives a shit about doubletwist.

  • That video sucked balls. Its 2009 and that the best you could do?? I agree apple has become a bag of douche, but if you are going to turn around one of the most famous ads of all time on them, at least do it well.

    • I’m not an apple fan either, and I would have to agree. The cartoon girl was a bit of a stretch for me. The rest of it looked good IMO.

      • Yeah what was up with the anime? Talk about updating a classic to fit terrible modern trends.

      • I am still a bit of an apple guy, but their recent decisions have turned me off quite a bit. Also the videos of MSs touch screen book thing are freaking amazing. Only way to make the form factor better on that would be to make the two screens seamless, which would be pretty hard…

        But yeah, the cartoon girl and the video of steve jobs were pretty bad… I would have really liked it if it was a good remake and not a mash up of different types of bad animations…

        Jim

  • I love doubleTwist! This commercial is very bold of them. Very cool though.

  • just wondering, does doubleTwist work through Bluetooth?

  • Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    LOLCats Translator:

    Iz wuz wunce sml an cuddlyz an nows Iz een ur kompewter eateengz ur choyces.

  • Awesome! Half the video is about who created it.

  • The anti-Apple train rolls on for TechCrunch. To what end are you endlessly trashing Apple? Seriously, what’s the angle here?

    Apple likes control. They like to manage their own stuff. (You know, they stuff they create and have no obligation to share with anyone else.)

    *But we already know this.*

    If you don’t like their approach, stop buying their stuff. If you don’t like their products, stop buying their stuff. It absolutely can’t be any simpler than that.

    There are other options out there, go find them. Go find the device that lets you do everything you ever wanted with it, with no restrictions whatsoever. If that device exists.

    Endless pot-shots at Apple, desperately wanting them to be something they are not, is just silly. And pretending that we have all somehow been ‘wronged’ at their hands is just plain childish.

    Entitlement’s a hell of a drug.

      • An insightful and compelling response. Bravo.

        • (You know, they stuff they create and have no obligation to share with anyone else.)

          …That’s the kind of thinking that supports complete and total deregulation and is against any sort of health care system that might actually provide medical care for American citizens. I only mention health care not to start a flame fest, but simply to illustrate how fucked up the American psyche really is. Keeping that in mind will help put a lot of the reader comments here into perspective.

    • “There are other options out there, go find them. Go find the device that lets you do everything you ever wanted with it, with no restrictions whatsoever. If that device exists.”

      It does exist… when was the last time you picked up an Android?

    • “The anti-Apple train rolls on for TechCrunch. ”

      In other words “You posted something that wasn’t glowingly positive about a company I obsess over and now I’m crying like a little bitch.”

      • Better than you: “Someone posted something positive about Apple and now I’m crying like a little bitch.”

        • Everybody hates you, Chris.

          • +1. lmfao. i just replied to a comment of his where he sounded like his tampon was in a twist.

          • quality control-look it up mf’r. my name is chris and i win you crybaby. read his comment. it really reads like someone got to him bad. it’s the internets. lulz and all chill your fanboydom out-m$ layalists and apple loyalists. this stupid game apple plays is just that. oh we have the upper hand because we make better products and we have a better company and m$ sucks. shut the hell up. i use whatever i use and no company controls me-maybe except for google (will bend over for them) but i don’t get how people don’t get that they are getting played. these doubletwist people are playing too, obviously considering it’s in their interest to piss off apple. they are in the business of making money…people who tell you otherwise are most likely lying and apple is no altruistic company and neither is microsoft, despite their billions in various investments and in research an demand.

    • Ok, first off, haven’t bought an Apple product since about ‘86, so I’m with you on the whole don’t buy their crap part.

      Unfortunately, there are these people I like to call Macheads, who have to constantly drag Apple into any discussion of any topic. You talk about your favorite movie, they will try to tell you what was done in Final Cut on a Mac. You talk about your favorite musician, they will start talking about iTunes. You talk about your vacation, and they tell you how much better your photos would look if you used iPhoto. You make a phone call, they will start talking about their iPhone. Any time they write an article, they compare everything to Apple’s competing product, and if Apple doesn’t make a competing product, then they talk about how much better Apple’s product would be if they did make one.

      In this way, the billions of people who will never buy an Apple product, could care less about Apple, and would be perfectly happy never to discuss Apple, given the choice, have to constantly hear about Apple on a daily basis from these crazy zealots. Those of us unfortunate enough to live somewhere like LA, SF or NY, probably won’t get through breakfast without hearing one of these nutjobs talking about how they have an iPhone app that makes their muffin taste better by putting an Apple logo on it.

      This is inevitably going to cause a backlash, because that is how things work. For years sites were excoriated, or even called ‘bigots’ if they didn’t pay due attention to Apple. For years you couldn’t mention any competitor of Apple’s without the comments being flooded by loony evangelists saying “what about Apple?” Now this is the payback. The Apple people wanted to shove the Apple logo in everyone’s face, now they have to live with hearing what people think of their beloved leader. Simple as that.

      • Bingo. Every tech site I’ve been on has had a noticeable shift in opinion over the last eighteen months.

        Some of the bloggers don’t get it yet but the punters do and that’s what matters. Mainly because the bloggers who don’t start being a bit more impartial aren’t going to be around for long.

        Incidentally, before anyone starts the tired old ‘Apple hater’ routine, I own and adore a late 2008 unibody Macbook. I just don’t believe it was designed by the Lord Jesus Christ and milled using unicorn tears.

        • Rule number one for bloggers. Impartiality doesn’t get you clicks… Just think, many reading this “impartial” story wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the “fair and balanced” story. If it was just,”Check out this funny Apple spoof” which is, essentially what this post is about, that’s not worth much ad revenue at ALL.

        • hahahaaaa mark. every company has it’s devotees who line up at the alter to take their mandatory spanking. this is complete bs (not this double twist ad which i say is about time. good of them to reproduce it exact as is and not change it much since that original apple ibm ad has gone down in history and is discussed in art-design-marketing classes all aroud the world. ugh. if i never have to discuss this ad in a class again (computer design class and art class) i will die happy), people’s fandom. it’s fine to have loyalty but don’t let it blind you. never. it’s the first sign of becoming a part of the sheeple.

      • There will be a backlash if Apple starts making terrible products. You can wish for one, but I’m thinking you’re facing a life of ever increasing Apple product users.

        The computer segment is still in the single digits, so there’s still a long way to go before reaching market saturation.

        Really, though, strange people are walking up to you everyday singing the praises of Apple devices (I’m assuming strange people since I figure your friends wouldn’t submit you to that)? Or do you just frequent places (like Starbucks or Apple stores) where those kinds of folks congregate?

        • I live in Hollywood. All of Hollywood is a place where those kinds of folks congregate. Seriously though, the Apple backlash has nothing to do with my wishes. Read any tech blog, and compare their opinion of Apple today, to their opinion of Apple when the first iPhone came out, and you will see a steady decline in goodwill toward Apple over the past few years.

          It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of their products, because just like everyone else who has their products manufactured in the same Asustech factory, Apple has their share of hits and misses. It is all about devotion to or rejection of the brand.

          • And it shouldn’t be a surprise – when a company outgrows its fan base and starts attracting more punters without brand loyalty then the RDF isn’t quite so strong.

            You’ll still get a few unrepentant fan boys like Biggsy and MG trying to spread the gospel but even they are starting to have doubts and the apologising is starting to sound more than a little strained.

          • “Read any tech blog,”
            Tech blogs which by now MUST have figured out what Dvorak knew so well looooong ago, any negative Apple news gets hits. You could probably track awareness of this right alongside the rise of articles written solely to collect hits and ad revenue…

            “you will see a steady decline in goodwill toward Apple”
            Which, strangely enough, would likely align inversely to the increasing sales of whatever Apple’s pushing out this week.

            “you will see a steady decline in goodwill toward Apple”
            Tech blogs are also notoriously bad at picking many mass market trends, so you can’t really go by what they like to determine what’s actually selling.

            When I mentioned your wishes, what I meant was, don’t take what you may “want” to see (an end to idiots yapping on and on about some new colorful idevice) and think you see signs that it’s going to happen in unrelated data. Some signs may be out there, but tech blogs are NOT where you’ll hear about it first ;)

            Me, I guess I can count my blessings I live in a place where I hardly hear anyone say anything about Windows, Linux, Mac or “other”. Walking down the street, I may see the earbuds, but not fawning to be heard. Even at Starbucks, they just sit there quietly doing whatever they do.

    • Apple frequently commits the same anti-monopolistic practices you Apple fanboys like to pin entirely on Microsoft.

      Microsoft deserves it, but Apple is jst as dishonest. Between violating just about every FOSS principle to locking out competiting vendors, to restricting their software far beyond reasonable amounts.

      Do fanboys like you know that their motion to dismiss Psystar’s lawsuit was denied? These people, unlike Apple, want to bring OS X to people without forcing them to abandon existign and frequently superior hardware to that which Apple offers.

      And now that the Palm Pre and the G1 are out and starting to beat the snot out of the iPhone, I ask why, and I think its because they, unlike the iPhone, are genuinely innovative and run on a platform actually meant for portability.

      Oh, and I don’t have to root a G1 or Palm Pre to develop and use extra software for them. I can put my preferred operating system (Linux) on any platform I want. You Apple fanboys are stuck on x86 and are overjoyed about how Steve Jobs is assraping you. I’ve NEVER seen any other company restrict its users more than Apple. Not even Microsoft is that restrictive.

      • “And now that the Palm Pre and the G1 are out and starting to beat the snot out of the iPhone”

        Hyperbole is clearly not your friend, since you shred any semblance of an argument you might have had when you assert obvious non-senses. BTW, those phones wouldn’t exist today if the iPhone hadn’t been released, so think about that the next time you’re rooting your handset of choice.

    • If you don’t like TechCrunch bagging on Apple, don’t read it.

      See how that works?

  • No Linux Version? Booooo!

  • Why do so many people hate on Apple for not opening up iTunes or their app store to the public? Not too many complain that Google’s search engine is a “black box” but Google search is 100X more important to the world than iTunes. Important not in a good way either. Scary.

    • I can use Google on any computer. My iPod only syncs to one computer. Big difference.

    • Actually, plenty of people harp on Google. The difference though is that Google doesn’t lock anybody into their website or force them to stick with what Eric Shmidt wants them to. Steve Jobs on the other hand… doesn’t let anyone change the iPhone so they can use any apps not in the store, nor does he allow OS X to run on any hardware not “blessed” by him. Google at the very least is very open, save for a few privacy concerns. They aren’t nearly to the level of anti-competitive stupidity that Apple and Microsoft are.

    • Because Google Search is not an invading nuisance on Windows.

  • awesome idea, but the execution kinda sucks

  • Wasn’t doubletwist originally devised to combat Apple’s DRM? Then Apple beat them to it and helped convince the labels to drop DRM. Now doubletwist is meant to help separate me from … Apple hardware?

    But I like the hardware. Isn’t that the point of Apple’s stuff?

  • I’ve never fully understood the idea that people think they have caught Apple in some dramatic transformation from what they used to be. It’s not as if Apple in 1984 was some wide open company that is dramatically different from what they are now. Jobs’ vision of the Mac in particular is practically identical to his vision of Apple products today; a fairly closed off device.

    So not saying that the criticism isn’t valid, but to couch it in some idea that Apple has dramatically changed in terms of their product philosophy, seems a bit silly. If there’s any difference at all it would be in the intervening years when Jobs wasn’t running things.

  • what the hell is doubletwist? what a terrible remake, who’s the douche ‘portraying’ jobs? laaame

  • Layers of Orwellian metaphors: Apple is not only big brother, but they are also the pigs of Animal Farm that overthrew the humans and began to walk and talk like humans themselves. They have become that which they criticized. Good stuff.

  • I was really excited about this product when I tried it a few months ago, but it doesn’t work. I want to sync stuff to my iPhone from ALL my computers, not just the one that has my iTunes account, so I tried doubleTwist and thought it would solve my problem, but it doesn’t. Sadly.

    • Your mistake was getting an iPhone. Apple doesn’t want you to sync it on anything but iTunes (Hell, they’d rather you throw away a perfectly good PC and use their locked down Macs, too. They’re even more controlling than Microsoft.). They do not like competition.

  • How fitting. Pay attention to how the Steve Jobs Cultists tend to parrot mindlessly whatever he tells them to. To them he is a messiah of technology who can do no wrong. Too bad the Apple products suck as any technical person (REAL technical person.) will tell you.

  • yeah it looks like 25 years makes a difference. funny how although time is going forwards, it seems like everything is just going in cycles. nice of doubletwist to remake one of the most iconic ads of all time.

    so has doubletwist gone rogue or are they just playing a game? seems like they are also just looking out for themselves. i hope they are making $$.

    • HonEstly? Apple’s little different from how they were 25 years ago. Steve Jobs still thinks himself an artist, and there’s still a technologically clueless cult following of him. The Macs are still based on the same so-called “Just Works” philosophy that is mired in restricting their users, only now they restrict the users of all their products. They act almost more anti-competitive than Microsoft.

      • i know. i was being sarcastic. reading that in this write up made me laugh a lot, but i realized that no matter how much time moves forward people insist on laying out cyclical pattern for innovations. people trying to recreate the freaking wheel.

      • i just replied to this. what is wrong with this site?

        anyways i was being sarcastic repeating the 25 years comment. i am by no means a fan of apple games.

  • I think John McCain said it best:

    “Shut up and get a life.”

  • Not only Apple has become Big Brother, but they also have cultivated a cult where they can preach their Amazing, Incredible, Outstanding products until you start to believe it or find it completely ridiculous. http://bit.ly/5rILn

    Great: 35 times – Incredible: 21 – Amazing: 15 – Easy: 16 – Nice: 8 – Wonderful: 5

    IBM was a less threat as it limited itself to business customers. Apple lures the consumer with products you don’t really need.

    • Just to play devil’s advocate, the first cell phone I owned was a Blackberry 7230. The second was an iPhone. I think anyone could argue that the difference between the two as “Amazing”.

      Of course, the same could be said about the latest HTC, the G1, or any of the other new phones. Point being, if you don’t know what piece of junk phone they were using before, how can you know that they don’t truly think their Palm Pre (or whatever phone) isn’t amazing?

      Interesting note… If someone were to say that Engago is amazing, wonderful, or great, should we write them off as a part of the growing Engago cult? :)

    • When a company grows to the right size it always attracts two different crowds, the fanboy/cultists and the people who say that everything this company does is bad. The first group are the sheep of the world that need somebody to follow, to make decisions for them. The second group are people who believe their world view is the correct one and everybody else should be made to see that. Then there are the rest of us that looks at these two groups and wish that a large safe would fall from the sky and squish them.

      • Dan, thanks for having the balls to stand behind that graphic comment by revealing who you are. Isn’t wishing that these two groups of extremists perish a worldview as well?

  • What’s the big deal?

    I can already use my iTunes library on any device using Bluetooth, wifi or USB connection to drag and drop from my iTunes folder. Simples.

  • What a mind numbing display of originality.

    What does it say for the company it represents?

    Rhetorical question, btw.

  • I just don’t get why all the people above and elsewhere who berate Apple for its products or Ethics actually bother!?!?

    If you like PC’s and love Windows or you like Nokia or Blackberry and hate iPods & iPhones, why do you waste your life attacking the opposition brands?

    If Apple makes such inferior products (as some have stated above) or has really bad company ethics (as inferred above), they will fail and you really need not worry about it.

    You have a choice, you don’t buy any of their products!

    When you invoke that right, another tip for a stress free life is don’t feel the need to go on blogs like this and leave a barrage of comments that are supposed to make you feel better about that choice!

    Doing so contradicts the impression you are trying to portray that you really don’t give a damn about Apple and their Products.

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