The Vermeer of the Computer Ads

In 1977, Apple Computers released the Apple II. This ad introduced it. While this ad is not quite as famous as the 1984 commercial for the Macintosh directed by Ridley Scott, it is among the best known magazine advertisements for computer products from the twentieth century.

Like a painting in a gallery, it’s the sort of work the rewards close attention. If "1984" is a Rembrandt, stormy, dark, and energetic, this ad is the Vermeer of the history of personal computing; a meticulously arranged, light-filled domestic setting, dusted throughout with gently hidden meanings.

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But first a word on the product. Although it's the Apple "II", the Apple barely existed. For practical purposes, the Apple I was a prototype that never experienced mass production; it was a built-at-home kit for hobbyists. The Apple II, this ad goes out of its way to say, was different.

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The Apple II, by contrast, was beautiful; the keyboard was embedded in a box that was well-made and small enough that the fiction someone would lug it to their kitchen table to work is just barely believable.

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The monitor sits next to it; the impressive, color graphics show stock prices. (Perhaps they are up to the minute?) All the cords and peripherals that power and link these things together are carefully obscured.

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But what's interesting here is the context, not the text. Only one of the man's hands is on the computer; the other holds a pen, because this not a machine that will change your life; it will supplement it. The stock prices align to the paper Wall Street Journal;

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This thoughtful man, dressed in the turtleneck that would become Steve Jobs' signature, is thoughtful, modern, It's obvious if you know Apple that this is Steve Jobs, not Steve Wozniak.
But although Steve Jobs had occasionally worn a turtleneck in the 1970s, they didn't become his trademark until 25 years after this ad, in 2002. In the 1970s, he was wearing suits, ties, and vests.
You shouldn't be threatened by him; you are him. Or he is the person living your best life.

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And your best life includes a computer in your comfortable home. That this is a home computer is central to the point--the kitchen setting is fantastically unrealistic.

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But the fantasy is the point of this ad. We know little about this man, but he is certainly a him. He looks tenderly at the stock prices, but his wife gazes tenderly at him. Is there a hint of admiration? Or is more amusement at the follies of men? She's happier than the Mona Lisa, but I couldn't tell you much more. Except that you, too, will be happy if you find a partner who looks at you this way.

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Especially if they cook as you work. And especially especially, if it's apples on the menu.

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Another apple hangs on the wall.

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