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Oompa Loompa, Baby (8/11/98)
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Okay, we haven't seen the actual magazine in question, nor have we seen this information surface anywhere but at MacNN, but apparently Newsweek reports that Apple's got a "final enticement" promotion for the iMac that buries the needle on the Whimsicalmeter®. Remember Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? That's the one in which the mercurial head of a chocolate company sticks five golden tickets into five random chocolate bar wrappers, and the lucky kids who find them are given free chocolate for life and a tour of the factory. (Most of the kids are brats who can't follow the rules about the magic candy, and general wackiness ensues.)

Well, it seems that Steve "Willy Wonka" Jobs is a fan of the novel (or perhaps the movie version), as he's supposedly stuck five golden tickets into randomly selected iMac boxes. This time, the lucky recipients get free computers for life (in the form of a machine replacement each year) and a tour of the Apple factory. If Apple were run by anyone but Steve, we'd be a lot more skeptical than we are about this report.

If any of you crazy kids gets a ticket, remember-- on the tour, do as you're told, or Steve'll sic a rainbow-colored Oompa Loompa on your butt. That can't be pretty...

 
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The above scene was taken from the 8/11/98 episode:

August 11, 1998: Apple's stock shoots ever higher amid reports of record iMac pre-orders and new Mac applications. Meanwhile, the iMac ad blitz has begun, and the radio ads are only the beginning, and rumors of five "golden ticket" iMacs show that Apple still hasn't lost its sense of humor...

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 928: More Signs of Life (8/11/98)   It was a big day for Apple's public image, to be sure; following the release of some good news, Apple's stock went through the roof, relatively speaking. It actually broke 41 in heavy trading, before finally settling back down to about 39...

  • 929: Soon We'll Be Sick of It (8/11/98)   A little more information about the upcoming iMac advertising campaign has surfaced in the form of an article in Advertising Age magazine. Unsurprisingly, as with the "Think Different" campaign, Steve Jobs has his hands all over the project, though he personally downplays his role and tries to redirect the credit to Apple's ad firm TBWA Chiat/Day...

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