Espionage, indeed. If nothing else, that title certainly may explain how a rather high-quality QuickTime version of an otherwise never-before-seen Apple television commercial suddenly surfaced at AdCritic.com bearing the appropriate title of "Espionage," as first pointed out by faithful viewer Charles Gaba. Being the TV junkies that we are (we're working on a combination time dilation and caffeine delivery system to allow us to watch twenty-six hours a day), we at AtAT think we can safely say that this commercial has never graced the airwaves with its mysterious presence, and it certainly isn't available for download from Apple's site. So where did this oddball ad come from?

If you haven't seen it, "Espionage" is a sixty-second clip depicting a late-night arms deal in a foggy warehouse. A briefcase of money is exchanged for a set of keys to a van, when suddenly the cops show up to raid the place. A Kevlar-wearing police agent crowbars open a crate in the back of the van: "Hey, detective, is that a...?" "That's one of them supercomputers," the detective responds, as he gazes at the Graphite-and-Ice curves of the Power Mac G4 nestled in the crate. Stylistically, the ad seems like a car commercial, and there's more than a hint of "Matrix Chic" in effect-- the black-clad, short-haired brunette in shades, the sudden transitions between slo-mo and fast-forward, etc. Unsurprisingly, the brunette manages to drive off with the G4 by posing as a cop, and Apple's logo and the slogan "Think Different" spin against an all-black background.

So is this a legit Apple commercial that was never released, smuggled out of Cupertino in the back of a black van? Could be, but the evidence against such a scenario is pretty weighty. First of all, it's completely inconsistent with every other Apple commercial released in the past two years. (Black backgrounds? Never heard of such a thing.) For another thing, as faithful viewer Justin Reese noticed, the font used for the "Think Different" tag looks different: "the Apple Garamond looks a bit offish, all in all a bit fishy." And if you look at the listed credits for the piece, the director is one "James Doh." Real name? You decide; at least his first name isn't John. Personally, we're assuming that someone outside of Apple's ad agency crafted this quizzical little gem entirely on his or her own. In fact, we wouldn't be completely surprised to hear that this is a real commercial for a different product and that some enterprising young pixel-pusher did a great job of editing in the image of a G4 and dubbing a new voice track-- but that would be a pretty impressive feat. Then again, if the perpetrator used a G4 to pull it off, well, suddenly that possibility seems less unlikely, doesn't it?

Update: eagle-eyed faithful viewer Ivan Hooker notes that Apple never capitalizes the "d" in "Think different." So "Espionage" may be cool, but it's definitely not a real Apple commercial. Faithful viewer Eric Samsel notes the presence of a couple more (non-Apple) commercials at http://www.karlicious.com/. If Karl Larsen (the guy who made these) and friends aren't making commercials professionally, they should be...