Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

15 Vintage Tech Ads

Posted by kdawson on from the when-we-were-young-and-some-of-us-weren't-even-born dept.

JimLynch writes "Tech ads just aren't what they used to be. Sure, you have your robot phone wars and naked spokeswomen in bathtubs (what was she selling, again?). But missing are the cheesy songs, silly slogans, and giant gadgets that made the tech ads of yesteryear so wonderful to watch. Check out these 15 vintage tech commercials for yourself. If all the obsolete technology doesn't put a smile on your face, surely the cameo by a young William Shatner will." Apple's "1984" is included, and it has a strange and unanticipated resonance these days.

3 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Ill-Informed Public by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can't help but look at the old tech ads and see how they were catered to a tech-illiterate population. Compare the iPhone and the 1984 commercials. For being a revolutionary product the Mac ads didn't -say- much about the Mac while the iPhone shows what all it can do.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  2. Apple internal videos by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some of them were amazing. I remember one where Woz and others were middle aged (with gray hair) showing off the new tech - The Apple 5000(?) mainframe that replaced IBM, and a disk drive so small it fit into the side of a pair of glasses (which was a computer with screen in teh glasses). In some ways they are not as far fetched today as they were in 1983/84. I wonder if any of them survived?

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  3. 1984's future resonance was clear and predictable by Eternal+Vigilance · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Apple's "1984" is included, and it has a strange and unanticipated resonance these days.

    The "1984" commercial's resonance is neither strange nor unanticipated if one understands the nature of projection .

    Knowing that, it was obvious even 25 years ago what was (unintentionally) being revealed.

    And while it's startlingly clear here in the case of Apple, the larger reason I mention projection is so more people learn how it works and how to use it to understand the world. It's both incredibly useful and incredibly beautiful. And if we want to create a world where we can do more than look at the mess and say "how strange and unanticipated," it's essential.

    Every day statements are made with just as much future significance as "1984."

    We might wanna learn to recognize them. ;-)