Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld explores Apple’s deep Super Bowl connections, from the iconic 1984 Macintosh ad directed by Ridley Scott to its sponsorship of the 2023 halftime show.
- Apple’s legendary Super Bowl XVIII commercial introduced the Macintosh and revolutionized commercial advertising, although the Lemmings follow-up was a critical flop.
- Apple’s sponsorship now promotes Apple Music through high-profile artists such as Rihanna and Bad Bunny, demonstrating the company’s strategic use of cultural events.
Computers and sports – two things that should never be appreciated together if you accept high school stereotypes about jocks and nerds. Today we live in a post-moneyball world where nerds with computers have quantified every aspect of sports performance. But in 1984, who would have expected the big winner of the Super Bowl to be… Apple Computer?
But it’s true: Apple and the Super Bowl have been making milestones for decades. It’s a nerd-jock love story for the ages, except today it’s more about musicians than athletes. Let’s take a look at Apple’s long history with the Super Bowl.
Commercial era
Of course, we’ll start with the most famous commercial in Super Bowl history: Apple’s “1984” commercial. It aired during Super Bowl XVIII, in which the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38-9. (That game started a streak of five consecutive Super Bowl shutouts. It wasn’t a very good Super Bowl era.)
But Apple’s ad, directed by Ridley Scott, has got everyone talking – and it’s extended beyond gaming, with news outlets discussing its surprising impact. I can’t say for sure, but I feel like the cultural impact of the 1984 ad helped create the entire concept of the Super Bowl flagship, a high-concept, expensive production designed to get people talking outside of the game itself.
Nowadays, these kinds of advertising campaigns are everywhere. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, ads begin appearing that are merely teasers for upcoming Super Bowl advertising campaigns. In the months that follow, these Super Bowl ads are often chopped up into smaller pieces and recycled to help the economy function.
Apple’s “1984” ad wasn’t like that. While it was designed to tease the introduction of the original Macintosh—and how modern the concept is, an ad teasing the future release of an unannounced product—it was meant to be standalone. Scott’s ad, featuring gray faces lined up listening to Big Brother rants while a woman in a colorful dress runs in slow motion, chased by thugs in jackboots, played on (and reinforced!) Apple’s reputation as a different kind of company.
Apparently Apple’s board of directors and its CEO, John Sculley, hated the ad. Steve Jobs loved it because it was exactly his vibe: Apple as an iconoclastic rebel changing the world by releasing a completely different kind of computer, the Mac.
Of course, Apple blew it the next year.
When the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, Apple aired a confusing “Lemmings” ad directed by Ridley Scott’s brother Tony. It’s got the same dissonant soundtrack, the same dreary production design…it’s very clear that the brief was “let’s do that 1984 ad again”. The ad features a bunch of blindfolded business people pulling marchers in a sort of suicide conga line until one by one they throw themselves over a cliff, all while whistling “High-Ho” from “Snow White.”
Designed to mirror the voice-over at the end of “1984,” the “Lemmings” voice instead features something called The Macintosh Office. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of Macintosh Office, because it never actually shipped. Other than that, it was just a business package consisting of Macs, a file server (which never materialized) and a LaserWriter.
Stop for a moment and marvel at how badly the corporate suits misunderstood the power of 1984, which showed a dystopia waiting to be disrupted by a revolutionary new product. They took the trappings of that ad and instead created an elaborate package of business hardware, portraying potential buyers as lemmings mindlessly strolling along a cliff. Enterprise Hardware Bundle! Why! What a disaster!
The era of Apple Music
Please pause as we fast forward from the Joe Montana era to the Patrick Mahomes era. (Yes, I’m skipping the “HAL” ad that aired during Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999.) A few years later, Apple rejoined America’s big game as the title sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show that kicked off Super Bowl LVII in 2023. (For the record, that was a tight 5phia City win over Philagales.38.
Apple replaced the previous title sponsor, Pepsi, and used the halftime entertainment showcase to connect prominent artists with its own music streaming service. Rihanna headlined the first half and won two Emmys.
Since then, the Apple Music Halftime Show has only gotten faster. In 2024, Usher headlined (and Kansas City beat the 49ers, 25 to 22 in overtime). In 2025, it was Kendrick Lamar (and the Eagles got revenge by beating Kansas City by 18 points).
Which brings us to this year. Apple’s special halftime guest is Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who will become the first Spanish-speaking artist to headline a Super Bowl halftime show.
As you might expect, Apple enjoys having its brand as a major part of such a big event, and Apple executives are often spotted at the game. Last year, CEO Tim Cook and Apple Music boss Eddy Cue (were sitting in the French Quarter before a game at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans, and two years ago they were in Las Vegas hanging out with Bad Bunny, among other things! The plot is thick.
This year, Apple will undoubtedly be all over the place, as the Super Bowl takes place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, just about six miles from Apple Park as the crow flies. The real question is, will Apple Park host a fancy party for the NFL and music crowds? I wouldn’t put it past Eddy Cue.