Business

Steve Jobs Stars as FDR in Internal Apple Commercial

An internal spin-off of Apple’s Super Bowl commercial “1984” has been released as an exclusive to Network World. In “1944,” Steve Jobs himself stars as FDR.

Internal Apple Film Released Starring Steve Jobs as FDR

Steve Jobs plays FDR in an internal Apple film called "1944".

The commercial was filmed to showcase the WWII battle of “good vs. IBM” and is reported to have cost $50,000 to produce for an internal sales force meeting for the company in 1984.

Watch this short clip of from the nine-minute film:

Here‘s some background on the content of the film from Network World’s Paul McNamara:

Anyone who’s seen the TV commercial no doubt recognized in this film the reprised role of the female hammer thrower, although I‘m not sure if it’s actually Anya Major from “1984.” And, if you recall, Apple’s famous ad ended with a narrator intoning: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will release Macintosh. And you‘ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’ ” As you just saw, this film begins: “On January 24, 1984, Apple Computer introduced Macintosh. And we saw why 1984 was like … 1944.”

If you don’t know the Macintosh commercial McNamara references (or need a refresher), see it here:

In addition to Jobs and some professional actors, Network World points out former vice president of marketing Mike Murray plays The General.

Network World reports former Apple employee Craig Elliott, who is now the CEO of Pertino Networks, said he had “never seen the film anywhere else” and didn’t know of any other place it would have been circulated. McNamara writes he too couldn’t find it anywhere else on the Web, which is not to say it’s not out there somewhere. He does acknowledge that two bits of “1944” appeared in a photo tribute to Jobs for his 30th birthday.

Watch the full commercial:

McNamara has pulled together the dialogue of the short. Read it here.

[H/T Buzzfeed]

Comments (15)

  • trueamerican40
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:09pm

    Subliminal, maybe? FDR was a great war time president BUT he was a Euro-centrist at heart.

    Report Post » trueamerican40  
  • Leader1776
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:49pm

    Hilarious. FDR/Apple = good. IBM/Nazis = bad. Not treasonous, but certainly convinces me my big yawn for Apple technology is supported by their misguided view of history, culture, society, and politics.

    It has been evident that Jobs, et.al. at Apple have disdain for America …………. except for its economic system that allows their current value to be larger than most nations of the world. (Hear that iPhone/iPad toting OWS’ers?) But ……… attempt to put themselves in the same class, league, even sentence as IBM? Apple ……… please tell us what you EVER developed/created where the technology wasn’t stolen from others.

    Has IBM ever failed in what they’ve developed? Yes. Have they acted like a large corporation. Sure, why not. Are they the cutting edge in all areas of computing? Of course not. Are they a major contributor to /patents/computing/basic technology? You betcha. Their comparison, this commercial …. both ludicrous and hilarious at the same time.

    I wish Apple continued success ……….. for the benefit of the country’s economy, not Apple. But, if the country needed help in any area of computing technology for national/security/emergency reasons no one would be looking to Apple [and, yes, there are iPhone/iPads being used by the military in the ME ..... quick fix]. They would ask Apple to step aside and let the grown-ups get to work.

    Report Post » Leader1776  
  • RamonPreston
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:21pm

    I am still watching the movie “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” about Jobs and Gates.

    Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • raderby
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:46am

    ANOTHER POINT I would like to make about Apple. Like the NYTimes, there seems to be some defacto assumption that “these are good” and “those are bad”. There is a certain enforced way about Apple and its products….. which is top-down computing. IBM was NOT a bad entity then, just made out to be by Apple….. – and Jobs tried his best to appear counter-culture, just to sell his brand. Lots of BS – I used Apple in 1980s – no longer- PCs way more flexible in many ways……

    Report Post » raderby  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:28am

      Yes…I see the flexibility in a PC when it gets a virus and it starts turning blue screen on me…Yeo, really flexible.

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:28pm

      Wow, Baddoggie. I haven’t seen a blue screen in years. Maybe because I have the software/knowledge to fix them. My brother gave me 2 computers yesterday to fix. Then I give them away. Gave away 9 this past winter to keep me busy.
      There is software available to check the drivers, registry, viruses, malware, and “tune up” your PC. Not hard to get.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
      Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:33pm

      @baddoggy
      Please reference the pinwheel of death or the gray screen of death or the question mark folder on bootup. I am shocked because I have never seen you so wrong.

      I am typing this on my iMac, right next to my iPhone, iPad, Linux laptop and several PCs. They are all PCs.(apple just controls which parts they allow from distribution) They all fail at times and all have issues at times.

      I’ve had to replace a harddrive in my iMac. I replaced it with a harddrive from a flexible “pc” that I was using as a linux server. You want to see inflexible? Try to replace a harddrive in an iMac. Better yet, try to replace the graphics card.

      It’s takes me a minute to swap the harddrive out of my “PCs”(servers, desktops and laptops)… iMac, took hours.

      Report Post » DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)  
  • raderby
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:42am

    Oh, forgot – FDR was a great president. Silly me- I thought he was a socialist president, and communist president that installed garbage on to the heads of all Americans that we are still dealing with today. In my book, that equals dictator crappy president.

    Report Post » raderby  
  • hardiepiper
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:33am

    He sounds more like Jon Lovitz than FDR.

    Report Post » hardiepiper  
  • kickagrandma
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 6:56am

    Disgusting, again.

    Report Post »  
  • VoteJoel
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 5:23am

    Best line: We don’t talk about 3!

    Report Post » VoteJoel  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 5:22am

    Looks like the OWS and Union zombies watching Obama…

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • Shiroi Raion
    Posted on May 4, 2012 at 5:16am

    Last night on “Red Eye” Andy pointed out – I guess Democrats are done with that “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
    LMAO

    Report Post » Shiroi Raion  

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