The Super Bowl wouldn’t be super without Apple
Computers and sports–two things that should never be appreciated together, if you accept the high-school stereotypes about jocks versus nerds. Today we live in a post-Moneyball world where nerds with computers have quantified every aspect of athletic performance. But back in 1984, who would have expected that the big winner of the Super Bowl would be… Apple Computer?
But it’s true: Apple and the Super Bowl have been making milestones for decades. It’s a nerds-and-jocks love story for the ages, except these days it’s more about musicians than jocks. Let’s look at Apple’s long history with the Super Bowl.
The commercial era
Of course, we begin with the most famous commercial in Super Bowl history: Apple’s “1984” ad. It aired during Super Bowl XVIII, in which the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38 to 9. (That game kicked off a run of five straight Super Bowl blow-outs. It wasn’t a very good Super Bowl Era.)
But Apple’s ad, directed by Ridley Scott, got everyone talking–and extended beyond the game, with news stories discussing its surprising impact. I can’t say for sure, but it feels like the cultural impact of the “1984” ad helped create the entire concept of the tentpole Super Bowl commercial, high-concept and high-priced productions designed to get people talking outside the game itself.
These days, those kinds of ad campaigns are everywhere. In the weeks before the Super Bowl, ads begin to appear that are merely trailers for forthcoming Super Bowl ad campaigns. In the months afterward, those Super Bowl ads often get chopped up into smaller bits and recycled to help make the economics work.
Apple’s “1984” ad wasn’t like that. While it was designed to tease the introduction of the original Macintosh–and what a modern concept that is, an ad that’s teasing the future release of an unannounced product–it was meant to stand alone. Scott’s commercial, featuring gray faces in rows listening to a Big Brother rant as a woman in colorful clothes runs in slow motion, chased by jack-booted thugs, played on (and amplified!) Apple’s reputation as a different kind of company.
It seems like Apple’s board and its CEO, John Sculley, hated the ad. Steve Jobs loved it, because it was exactly his vibe: Apple as iconoclastic rebel, changing the world through the release of a very different kind of computer, the Mac.
Of course, the next year, Apple blew it.
As the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, Apple aired the baffling ad “Lemmings,” directed by Ridley Scott’s brother Tony. It’s got the same discordant soundtrack, the same grim production design…it’s very clear that the brief was “let’s do that ‘1984’ ad again.” The ad features a bunch of blindfolded people in business attire marching in a sort of suicidal conga line until they plunge over a cliff one at a time, all while whistling off-key “High-Ho” from “Snow White.”
The “Lemmings” voiceover, designed to mirror the voiceover at the end of “1984,” instead introduces something called The Macintosh Office. Don’t fret if you’ve never heard of the Macintosh Office, because it never really shipped. Besides, it was just a business bundle consisting of Macs, a file server (that never materialized), and a LaserWriter.
Pause for a moment and marvel at just 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 made it about a complicated business hardware bundle and portrayed the potential buyers as lemmings walking mindlessly over a cliff. A business hardware bundle! Why! What a disaster!
The Apple Music era
Please pause while we fast-forward from the era of Joe Montana to the era of Patrick Mahomes. (Yes, I’m skipping over the “HAL” commercial that aired during Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999.) Years later, Apple re-engaged with America’s big game, as the title sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show beginning with Super Bowl LVII in 2023. (For the record, it was a taut 38 to 35 win for Kansas City over the Philadelphia Eagles.)
Apple replaced the previous title sponsor, Pepsi, using the halftime entertainment showcase to link prominent artists with its own music streaming service. The headliner of the first halftime was Rihanna, and it won two Emmy awards.
Since then, the Apple Music Halftime Show has just sped onward. In 2024, Usher headlined (and Kansas City beat the 49ers, 25 to 22 in overtime). In 2025, it was Kendrick Lamar (and the Eagles gained their 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-language performer to headline a Super Bowl halftime.
As you might expect, Apple enjoys having its brand be a major part of such a big event, and Apple executives are frequently spotted at the game. Last year, CEO Tim Cook and Apple Music chief Eddy Cue [hung out in the French Quarter ahead of the game at the Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans, and two years ago they were in Las Vegas hanging out with, among other people, Bad Bunny! The plot thickens.
This year, Apple will undoubtedly be all over the event, because the Super Bowl is taking place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, only about six miles away from Apple Park as the crow flies. The real question is, will there be a fancy party at Apple Park for the NFL and music crowd? I wouldn’t put it past Eddy Cue.