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Think Award-Winning (12/16/97)
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The thing about the 60-second "Think Different" commercial was this: People generally either loved it or hated it. And a lot of the people who hated it grew to love it. So it's not entirely surprising to us that, according to MacCentral, Apple's only commercial in recent memory took second place in USA Today's recent survey of creative directors for ad agencies.

Although "Think Different" came in second, it was actually beaten by three other campaigns who each tied for first: the "Roach Motel" and "Haircut" ads for HBO, the "Dick" commercials for Miller Lite, and last but not least, the "Da Da Da" ads for Volkswagen (probably the first car company to market its vehicles--successfully--as the choice of people who have no life). Maybe it's just us, but we would like to see the "Dogs Love Trucks" campaign for Nissan up there, too.

Anyway, if that's not enough evidence that the "Think Different" ad touched a nerve, there's a little more on the subject over at Don Direct. Don Crabb talked to someone in CBS' marketing department about their "Think Funny" parody ad, and apparently their research showed that not only had a lot of people seen Apple's original, the overall measured response was "quite positive." Positive enough, presumably, to justify parodying it. After all, it doesn't pay to parody something no one's ever heard of.

 
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The above scene was taken from the 12/16/97 episode:

December 16, 1997: (Sorry—this was before we started writing intro text for each episode!)

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 275: Visible Trail of Slime (12/16/97)   Man oh man, the net is abuzz with reports and commentary on Microsoft's "compliance" with Judge Jackson's preliminary injunction, which prohibits them from requiring Wintel manufacturers to ship Internet Explorer on all Windows 95 systems...

  • 276: Christmas Cheer (12/16/97)   AtAT addicts may have noticed that recent episodes have been, shall we say, a bit of a downer lately. Chalk it all up to holiday depression, I suppose... But whatever the cause, after yesterday's unchecked torrent of rampant negativity, faithful viewer Dave Brutscher called us on our unseasonal behavior and sent us a reality check: "I was at a CompUSA store today..."

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...
Vote Early, Vote Often!
Why did you tune in to this '90s relic of a soap opera?
Nostalgia is the next best thing to feeling alive
My name is Rip Van Winkle and I just woke up; what did I miss?
I'm trying to pretend the last 20 years never happened
I mean, if it worked for Friends, why not?
I came here looking for a receptacle in which to place the cremated remains of my deceased Java applets (think about it)

(1287 votes)
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