Apple’s first “Mac Chick”?
And here we thought we were being original.
An anonymous reader sent us this pic of a purported Apple ad, circa 1990 for what appears to be the Mac Classic (Aka “Civic”). We’re unable to verify its authenticity (perhaps the Woz, who we know reads this site daily, can help us out?) but if legit it appears Apple may have invented our Mac Chick feature back when we were somewhere in the 4th or 5th grade. Odds are it was this type of thinking that eventually got John Sculley fired.
The only thing screaming “fake” to us is those glasses look positively 1983-ish. What are your thoughts? Real or fake? Anyone seen this before, or, even better yet, anyone know who the girl is?
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Got a bigger version?
It’s screaming ‘wallpaper’.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
What you need to do is check eBay for a Macworld from 1990. Maybe the ad would be in there?
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
The Mac Classic was the first sub-$1000 Mac. Maybe the ad said something like, “Cheap, fast, and good-looking”.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
That certainly was never produced by “Apple”. However a fan may have made it.
That mouse that she’s hiding doesn’t look like ti’s a 90’s era mouse and that Apple Computer logo is from the late 70’s and the Apple II era. By 1990 Apple was already using their customized Garamond font.
You can see almost the entire history of all Apple marketing at The Mothership dot com.
http://www.macmothership.com
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Yeah, I think it’s fan art. As previously mentioned, the logo and font are from the Apple II era - by 1990, Apple would have been using Apple Garamond and a slightly different coloured apple. She’s also holding an Apple Bus Mouse II, which wouldn’t have been introduced until the classic 9″ all-in-one form factor was phased out (the Classic and its ilk shipped with the Appe Bus Mouse, which was rectangular). It could just be the lighting, but form the colour, it looks like the machine has been exposed to cigarette smoke for an extended period. Also notice that the apparent colour of the machine doesn’t match the apparent colour of the mouse - a good advertising producer would’ve fixed that. All in all, I think we can confidently say it isn’t genuine.
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:51 am
Sorry what was the question? sorry I have to clean the drool off myself, the floor, and the keyboard.
November 3rd, 2007 at 3:17 am
Though a fan fiction picture I like the floppy disk wall. The chick isn’t half bad either lol.
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 am
Absolutely fake. Uneven lighting. Her legs are completely blown out white, terribly over exposed. Further, look at her legs — not “perfect” like a model’s legs would have been. Also, the part in her hair is not a straight line. That kind of off-set parting came later, more recently.
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 am
The shoes
don’t fit the time 
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
it’s more american apparel than anything else, but would love to have it as a wallpaper.
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I believe this to be a fake. A very clever one. However hip and retro the art direction is… it screams of a contemporary sensibility. There is no way in the 80s an advert like this would be made. Sure, all the props are from the right time period, but the attitude behind is pure 21st century. Great advert nonetheless.
November 4th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Real or Fake, it is certainly creative. I think Apple should adopt this “retro” style in a marketing campaign. That could be fun, at least for Mac junkies like myself.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:52 am
definitelly not an ad. no ad agency would chose this girl as a model, those clothes as wardrobe, that hair style or that piece of floor for a photoshoot. not when the client can afford budgets of thounsads USD. not even if the cheap look were intentional to the ad.
it’s just sloppy work.
this is clearly made by a fan.
the girl is not bad, though.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I don’t think they had colored floppies in the early 90’s. I only remember black and white floppies until mid/late 90’s when they were loosing their appeal.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
That still doesn’t mean they didn’t invent the mac chick
http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/newads12/97NewtonInc.jpg
Hotness!
November 29th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
LOL!!!! AWESOME!!!!
this is my picture guys! just a dedication to the beloved apple. and a response to the quality of the picture… it is meant to be overexposed and off color… its supposed to look old lol. and judging by this post, i succeeded! lol. here is my flickr page and my real website with the pic on there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timmelideo/
http://www.timmelideo.com
thanks for the post though!!!!!!
November 30th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
myspace.com/wendymccolm
youtube.com/wendymccolm
shes hot and funny