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Why 2002 Won't Be Like 1984 (2/1/02)
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For pigskin fans, Sunday is the holiest of holy days; so, too, for people who love TV commercials. Yes, we know people who actually tape the Big Game and then fast forward through all that tedious "football" stuff just to see the ads. Heck, despite the fact that the Patriots somehow managed to shoehorn themselves into the show, we, ourselves, don't have a whole lot of interest in Sunday's match beyond whether or not its outcome means we win a little extra pocket money in the office pool.
We might have been able to scrape up a little more enthusiasm if Apple had seen fit to shell out some crazy ducats for an ad slot, like it did a few years ago to show that originally-only-for-the-'net HAL commercial, or way back in 1984 when it showed-- well, "1984." But unfortunately, while some of us were still entertaining vain hopes that Apple would stake out a 60-second spot to push the new iMac or maybe run down some of those Macintosh myths, MacMinute confirms that the last Super Bowl ad slot has been purchased-- and it didn't go to Apple. So don't expect any groundbreaking marketing messages from Cupertino during this Sunday's festivities.
Disappointing, isn't it? After all, if ever there was a time for Apple to blow a chunk of that $4 billion war chest on a spiffy new Super Bowl ad, you'd think this would be it. Apple has retail stores; they've never been advertised. Mac OS X is out, after a few bug-fix releases it mostly works, it now ships as the default Mac operating system, and there are even some apps for it; again, there's been no mention of any of this on the airwaves. And granted, Apple's already selling new iMacs faster than it can build them, but still, we wouldn't mind actually seeing one on the tube every once in a while; why not during the big game?
Sure, the economy's not in the greatest shape right now, but we just figured that since the company has so much cash in the bank, this might be a nice opportunity to spend some of it on a little extra mind share. Ah, well; we're sure that Apple has its reasons; presumably they needed to spend the money on more important things. Maybe Steve's Gulfstream needed a tune-up or something...
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SceneLink (3543)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/1/02 episode: February 1, 2002: Apple faces yet another class action lawsuit-- this time for not fully supporting all of Mac OS X's "supported" hardware. Meanwhile, the company decides to pass on advertising during the Super Bowl, and apparently that "dude, you're getting a Dell" guy is actually popular...
Other scenes from that episode: 3542: This Action Sure Is Classy (2/1/02) Does everyone remember when Apple got slapped with no fewer than four class action lawsuits over a span of mere days for allegedly making "false and misleading statements" about its financial prospects and thus bilking investors out of zillions of dollars?... 3544: Dude, You're Making Me Ill (2/1/02) Far be it from us to send you off on your weekend pondering evil thoughts, but we found this so incomprehensible, we have no choice but to risk it. See, Katie (AtAT's resident fact-checker and Goddess of Minutiae) was clicking around in a desperate attempt to avoid doing any actual work when she stumbled upon a truly frightening sight: an entire CNN article about "Steven," that oh-so-irritating television spokesperson for Dell Computer...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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