At the closing bell on Monday, Apple stock surged nearly three percent and reached an all-time high value of $665.15 per share, the Associated Press reports. This puts the company’s worth in the ballpark of $624 billion (yeah, billion, with a “b”), and makes it the most valuable company in the history of Wall Street.
Allow us to give you some perspective. While Apple has been the world’s most valuable company since the end of last year, the AP reports, it is now worth over 54% more than the next company in line, Exxon Mobil Corp. It has also surpassed the all-time high value (not adjusted for inflation) of Microsoft, which was valued at $620.58 billion in 1999, at the peak of the Internet boom. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Apple is now worth more than Comcast, News Corp., Time Warner, CBS, Viacom, and Sony… combined.
The AP attributes the spike in stock value to the circulating rumors that Apple will soon release the iPhone 5 and a smaller, cheaper iPad. We — tech and economy experts that we are — think it’s because everyone and their grandmother owns an Apple something or another.
Apple has been slowly but surely wheedling its way into pop culture since the mid 1980s, and its presence has now reached an all-time high. From the A-list celebrities in their recent ads to the iPhone’s ubiquitous presence as the phone of choice in movies, it’s safe to say that Apple has permeated our lives. Wait, you don’t have an iPhone? What the heck is wrong with you?
Here’s a fun jaunt down memory lane, for ya. We take a look at the iconic moments in Apple advertising that borrow heavily from pop culture (and vice versa).
1984: The 1984 Super Bowl Ad
During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple debuted an ad for its first Macintosh computer. Masterminded by the creative smarty-pantses at the ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, the commercial borrows from the mind-controlled future of George Orwell’s novel 1984. In it, a tank top clad woman with a sledge hammer appears on the scene to smash the screen-projected image of Big Brother once and for all. The Macintosh, the ad seems to say, will free consumers from the oppressive reign of the PC.
1997-2002: Think Different Campaign
“Here’s to the crazy ones,” begins the artistic and inspiring Think Different campaign Apple introduced in the late 1990s. In this first TV spot, Richard Dreyfuss narrates a touching ode to thinking outside the box while black and white footage of Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King Jr., and other “geniuses” rolls on. The commercials were accompanied by posters of Gandhi, Martha Graham, Amelia Earhart, Jim Henson, and other pioneers stamped with the poetic slogan, “Think different.”
2003: Dancing Silhouettes for iPod Featuring Popular Artists
Replacing nostalgia with the zeitgeist, Apple enlists popular musical artists, starting with Jet, for their dancing silhouette iPod commercials. Daft Punk, U2, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, and others all gave their songs to the campaign.
2006: The Birth of the “I’m a Mac….” Ads
Despite a long writing career and a role on The Daily Show, humorist John Hodgman may forever be known as “The PC Guy” for his appearances in Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads. Geeky Hodgman represented the stodgy PC, while Justin Long portrayed the hipper, cooler (more annoying?) Mac. Love ’em or hate ’em, everyone knew — and was talking about — these ads until they stopped airing in 2010.
2011: Friends with Benefits’ Bible App for iPad
By 2011, iPhones had become the new normal. Nary a flip phone and rarely a Blackberry appeared on the big screen, and movie editors no longer tried to hide the iPhone’s recognizable text message alert or cover over the Macbook’s logo. In the 2011 movie Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, the iPad took center stage. In one of the film’s key scenes, the two seal a pact by swearing on the Bible app Kunis has on her iPad.
2012: iPhone 4/Siri Commercials Featuring Celebrities
And that brings us to 2012. Today, A-list stars such as Zooey Deschanel, Samuel L. Jackson, and Martin Scorsese have lent their famous visages to advertising for Apple’s iPhone 4 featuring Siri.
Follow Abbey Stone on Twitter @abbeystone
[Photo Credit: Apple]
More:
Lady Gaga’s Fame Commercial: Hints of ‘Fifty Shades’ S&M? — VIDEO
Apple Is the World: Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, the Founder’s Drug History & More
How Apple’s New iPad, iCloud, Apple TV Will Change the Way You Watch
