Retromercial Break - Kevin Costner in Apple's Lisa Ad
Wednesday August 15, 2007
You often find gems digging in the commercial vault. Old products. Hokey music and voiceover. Even a future celebrity who was just looking for a paying gig at the time. Ah, these types of commercials are vintage jewels.
It's hard to say what makes Apple's 1983 ad for the "Lisa" computer such a treasure. Is it a then-unknown Kevin Costner portraying a businessman so excited about getting to the office to visit his "Lisa" that he rides his bike into work at sunrise? Is it the close-up of a mouse that looks more like a garage door opener from the 70s? Or could it be the "Lisa" computer's awkward rectangular shape and tiny screen?
"Lisa" was the first commercial personal computer to have a GUI and a mouse. "Lisa" actually stood for Local Integrated Software Architecture. Lisa is also the name of Steve Jobs' first daughter who was born in 1978, the same year Apple began working on the "Lisa" project.
More on the "Lisa" Computer:
Apple spent about 4 years and $50 million developing the computer. "Lisa" went through several re-vamps, from the "Lisa 1" to the "Lisa 2/5" and then the "Lisa 2/10" before getting a complete name change to the Macintosh XL. The company's goal was to sell 100,000 units but "Lisa" was a huge failure mainly because of the $9,995 price tag and few software applications to go with it.
Jobs was forced off the "Lisa" project in 1982. He began working on Apple's Macintosh line.
Ironically enough, it was the release of the Macintosh in 1984 that sealed the fate of "Lisa." The Mac also had a GUI and mouse but was much less expensive.
Wondering what happened to all of those unsold "Lisa" computers? In 1989, Apple buried them at a landfill in Logan, Utah, and got a tax write-off on the 2,700 unsold units. This was also the same year Costner starred in Field of Dreams. You know...the one with the famous line, "If you build it, they will come."
It's hard to say what makes Apple's 1983 ad for the "Lisa" computer such a treasure. Is it a then-unknown Kevin Costner portraying a businessman so excited about getting to the office to visit his "Lisa" that he rides his bike into work at sunrise? Is it the close-up of a mouse that looks more like a garage door opener from the 70s? Or could it be the "Lisa" computer's awkward rectangular shape and tiny screen?
- See the Commercial: Kevin Costner in "Lisa" Ad
- See the Computer: Apple's "Lisa"
- Print Ad: "Lisa" Gets a Makeover
"Lisa" was the first commercial personal computer to have a GUI and a mouse. "Lisa" actually stood for Local Integrated Software Architecture. Lisa is also the name of Steve Jobs' first daughter who was born in 1978, the same year Apple began working on the "Lisa" project.
More on the "Lisa" Computer:
Apple spent about 4 years and $50 million developing the computer. "Lisa" went through several re-vamps, from the "Lisa 1" to the "Lisa 2/5" and then the "Lisa 2/10" before getting a complete name change to the Macintosh XL. The company's goal was to sell 100,000 units but "Lisa" was a huge failure mainly because of the $9,995 price tag and few software applications to go with it.
Jobs was forced off the "Lisa" project in 1982. He began working on Apple's Macintosh line.
Ironically enough, it was the release of the Macintosh in 1984 that sealed the fate of "Lisa." The Mac also had a GUI and mouse but was much less expensive.
Wondering what happened to all of those unsold "Lisa" computers? In 1989, Apple buried them at a landfill in Logan, Utah, and got a tax write-off on the 2,700 unsold units. This was also the same year Costner starred in Field of Dreams. You know...the one with the famous line, "If you build it, they will come."
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