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11-FEB-2025 | Apple’s “For the rest of us” Macintosh Ad

Author

Dan Bogachek
February 11, 2025

Apple’s “For the rest of us” Macintosh Ad

Introducing Macintosh.
For the rest of us.

In the olden days, before 1984, not very many people used computers, for a very good reason.

Not very many people knew how.

And not very many people wanted to learn.

After all, in those days, it meant listening to your stomach growl through computer seminars. Falling asleep over computer manuals. And staying awake nights to memorize commands so complicated you’d have to be a computer to understand them.

Then, on a particularly bright day in Cupertino, California, some particularly bright engineers had a particularly bright idea: since computers are so smart, wouldn’t it make more sense to teach computers about people, instead of teaching people about computers? 🏁

“Once upon a time…” in the form of an ad.

  • The story arc: the before “olden” times → pain → the hero + the core mission enter as painkiller as we enter the new age.

  • Relating pain to literal physical discomfort — hunger, lack of sleep. Talk about keying into the lowest tier on Maslow’s hierarchy!

  • Great repetition on “not very” and “bright.”

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and flip open the laptop.

Or… what if:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 9:27 — final draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

Copygloss handled it. Before you left for the date, actually.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].