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Jennifer Clinard
Professor Hutton
English 1010-074
03 October 2018
The Crazy Ones
Ranked as one of the most recognizable brands in the world, Apple is synonymous with
cutting edge technology and innovation. Whether it’s an iPad, iPod, iPhone, or iMac, chances
are you, or someone you know, owns an Apple product. Each piece of handheld technology
bears the shape of an apple with a bite taken out. Almost childlike in its simplicity, the logo is as
easily recognized as the name. While we may acknowledge the star power the Apple brand
carries do we know when they began their meteoric rise to rock-star status?
Somber piano music plays as the warm, yet strong voice of Richard Dreyfuss begins to
narrate Apple’s extraordinarily effective “Think Different” advertising campaign. Set atop black
and white images of cultural icons his voice compels us to think different, to create different, to
perform different, to BE different. This campaign was launched in 1997 but has been re-released
multiple times due to its transcendent context. The appeal is the same today as it was over
twenty years ago. Humanity still desires to make the world better, to improve the human
condition, and to have a light shone upon their individuality.
Soundlessly Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his world-changing “I Have a Dream”
speech, Bob Dylan blows smoke as we imagine his strikingly unusual voice, John Lennon strums
his guitar alongside Yoko Ono all the while the consumer begins to feel a yearning. More
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specifically, we are summoned to take action and make a difference. Our innate desire to be
perceived as standing out from the crowd is tugged upon by the soothing tone of the narrator’s
voice, the climbing tempo of the music, and the quick snippets of world-changers flashing across
the screen. The grainy quality of the images feels almost organic in nature. Muhammad Ali floats
like a butterfly and we ...
