Steve Hayden, one of the writers behind Apple's iconic "1984" ad for the original Mac, has died.
It's one of the most famous ads ever made, and 36 years after its official only airing, Apple's "1984" was being used by Epic Games in its case against the company. Along with Brent Thomas and ad director Lee Clow, Steve Hayden wrote the original ad — starting with a pitch deck shown to Steve Jobs.
According to AdAge, Hayden, who died August 27, 2025, had recently reflected on how Apple's message, where information will set you free as set forth in the "1984" ad has not come true.
"'1984' was based on the idea that if people have good information, they cannot become drones," he said. "If people have access to the truth, they can't be controlled."
Steve Hayden — image credit: Ogilvy
"Yet the exact opposite happened," he continued. "I don't think we've had weirder beliefs since the Salem witch trials or the Middle Ages."
"It's just shocking, said Hayden, "People cannot find the truth. They don't trust the truth when they do find it."
The "1984" ad that launched the Macintosh, was officially only shown at that year's Super Bowl. In reality, it also played late night on TV in certain territories in order that it would qualify for various advertising awards.
It was directed by Ridley Scoot, who said in 2022, that it was Hayden's script that made him sign up. "It was advertising as an art form," he said. "It was devastatingly effective."
"My god [I thought]. They're not saying what [the Mac] is, they're not showing what it is," he continued. "They're not even saying what it does."
Part of the original "1984" pitch deck that sold Steve Jobs on the idea — image credit: Apple
It was Steve Jobs and then-CEO John Sculley who initially decided to go with the ad. When he was first shown the storyboards for it, Jobs reportedly said "Oh, sh— , this is amazing."
There were then some disagreements within Apple about running the ad, which ultimately cost $15 million (around $46 million in 2025's money.) But it aired in Super Bowl XVIII — and caused such a sensation that countless news reports repeatedly played it in full.
Writer Leander Kahney reported back in 2003 that Hayden had told a reunion of Apple staff why he had been hired in the first place. "[I got hired] because they were looking for a copywriter who could understand Steve Jobs," Hayden said at the time.
To back that up, Hayden reportedly showed the reunion examples of the kind of verbose, densely-written ads that Apple had tried before he joined.
Yet although Hayden was central to this most remarkable ad, and even though he went on to a series of advertising successes, he also knew just what the value of an ad really was.
"Apple is not sold with advertising," he said at that 2003 reunion. "It is sold with evangelism, one person talking to another. The advertising reinforces the evangelist message."
