I'd say we did, you need more and more for the same effect. Here is the first ad...

derektank · 2026-01-26T19:08:52 1769454532

In case anyone accuses you of not comparing like to like, even a contemporary Bulova commercial is much more similar to the latter than the former: https://youtu.be/trp7p634qAU?si=fGvyxHp_cayuw5xa

andai · 2026-01-26T18:08:10 1769450890

Everyone's trying too hard to stand out, but honestly the first one would stand out more today, despite being a still image!

chwtutha · 2026-01-26T22:17:53 1769465873

My thoughts exactly. Apple could probably go viral with the original style of ad today.

vulcan01 · 2026-01-26T22:57:46 1769468266

I'm not sure it is valid to use the first ad ever as a basis for comparison. At this time it was a novelty to even have a television – of course an incredibly basic ad would work. And how much do you think they had to pay for an ad on a very new technology? I doubt much.

wat10000 · 2026-01-26T19:15:15 1769454915

Wow, I haven't watched any ads for a while and that was pretty jarring.