1993 "You WIll" AT&T Commercials
Did AT&T’s Bold 1993 Predictions Come True in 2008?
Remember the advertisements where AT&T was showing casually futuristic technology, with the promise that “You will” see it? Although the technology did exist in research labs at the time, the question is- did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?
Let’s review them to see if the scenes (the commentary, technology, and the background settings) ever came true-
In the first scene, we see a woman “borrowing” a digital book in front of a giant (non-flat) screen. She is touching the screen. She has a non-digital pen, and I can’t make out it there is a keyboard or mouse around. Anyway, reading a “virtual book” is amusing…people read PDF text files, preferably in a palm pilot, handheld reader, or laptop- not at a library, and certainly not an actual digital replica. So…to be strict: THUMBS DOWN on this prediction. Remember- I asked at the beginning of this post: “Did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?” The answer for the first shot is NO.
In the second scene, we see a GPS. Although the graphics seem 3-D, and GPS’s are still not affordable for everyone in the world (and forget about 2nd or 3rd world countries), I will give AT&T a YES for that scene.
The third scene always seemed so ridiculous and arrogant to me when I first saw it. A portable fax machine as a digital tablet? Why couldn’t he just call the guy on his AT&T/Singular/Bellsouth cell phone? Or use his wireless laptop? E-mail anyone? In reality, has anyone ever had positive experiences with fax machines and phone lines? Fax machines are still bulky. I wonder if his receiver ever got his message. Sure, digital pens exist, but the scene itself is a dream that does not exist in 99.99% people’s realities on this earth. My answer: NO.
Let’s take a look at another:
Okay, the first scene makes you say “Wow”- that’s true. However, closer inspection raises some doubts- first of all, we don’t need an on-board computer system like that. Secondly, here in Florida, SunPass looks like a small transponder on your windshield or dashboard. It transmits a radio signal. It sure as heck doesn’t tell you your remaining balance, either. But you can always go online to find out and buy more time with your credit card. Oh, and how futuristic are those toll booths! No people, no traffic, clean! Wow…sure looks like everyone has one of these devices. But, since I have to give a “Yes” or “No”, as much as I want give a YES for the spirit of the scene, I vote NO.
In the next scene, we see girls buying concert tickets from an ATM machine. Huh. Now, if the confident voice-over guy said “buy concert tickets from your home on your PC”, he’d be correct. But he didn’t. He said “cash-machine”. I saw a touchscreen 3-D virtual seating arena. Survey says? BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. NO.
The third scene is funny, as it looks so believable and tugs on your emotions. Too bad phone booths went the way of dinosaurs. Too bad AT&T couldn’t predict that cell phones could do this (in a very limited form-STILL). So..what is the baby looking into anyway? NO.
Let’s move on to their later 1994 spots:
The first scene shows a self-checkout at a supermarket. That looked encouraging, especially since they exist today (although they seem broken most of the time, the real cashiers outnumber them 5:1, and you’re dead if you have fruit, and people still ask for help…sigh). But once you see the woman just placing her cart in some…thing…I’m still scratching my head over that one. I’m with the little boy, Jeremy, who AT&T is trying to insult for looking confused over something so “nonchalant” to his mother.
The second scene is a video conference where a doctor actually diagnoses an injury instantly. Now, webcams exist today, as does video conferencing. I’m okay with that (although in 1994, it wasn’t THAT much of a stretch to predict.) But a live doctor making an official diagnosis? Is that an X-ray? Where is that locker room, anyway? It looks like high school, but is so empty. Who’s paying for this? Nope. Sorry. NO.
Finally, in the third scene, a guy gets a phone call on his wristwatch, kind of like Dick Tracy. Why can’t he just take a picture of the beautiful mountains for his woman? Sure, we have small cell phones now, and I’m sure they make wristwatch phones, but it’s impractical. I vote NO.
In other clips I wasn’t able to post here:
A man has a business meeting on vacation in the South Pacific. He’s using a laptop, and the other members of his office each have a square on his laptop and can see him and each other. The announcer says “have a business meeting barefoot”. Kind of a stretch, but I’ll vote YES (barely).
A college student is watching his professor at a podium, and he and the other students all interact with each other virtually. NO.
A woman opens her front door with her voice because she has groceries. NO.
A guy carried his entire medical history and x-rays on a credit card. Hell NO.
Kids can watch “any movie you ever wanted to see instantly” on their television with a touch of the screen. My vote…in spirit, you can, but not “instantly”, and not “all movies”, not on your TV… and not yet. NO. Maybe one day.
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At least AT&T got it kinda-right.
except for that whole wrist-phone thing.
you say its impractical, but i say it looks cool while youre talking into it, so now i want one if it exists.
but forget about all that stuff that AT&T predicted,
i say where are the flying cars, jet packs, and robotic maids promised by the jetsons?
thats the fun stuff that we really need to have.
i dont care about sending somebody a fax from the beach,
i want to know when im going to be able to take that vacation on saturn that ive always wanted-
not anytime soon im afraid.
AT&T isnt great at it, but Hanna-Barbera REALLY sucks at predicting the future.
this isnt what i thought my life would be like in 2008.
as a small child i thought that by this time i would at least have an apartment on mars or something.
im very disappointed.
at least AT&T didnt get my hopes up too high with what they promised.
but the jetsons – man those guys really let me down.
screw you Hanna-Barbera.
The year 2000 was supposed to be “it”! You are correct about the Jetsons.
From the 1930’s to the 1980’s expectations were so high:
Flying cars, jetpacks, robots, colonizing the moon, going from planet to planet, harvesting the world’s oceans, space elevators with payloads to the moon, affordable commercial space travel,curing all diseases, etc.
MEANWHILE, mainstream media, corporations, advertisers, and even the sci-community never truly pushed for the prediction of two of the greatest inventions that shape our current society- small/mobile PCs and Internet, and all the capabilities that they entail.
Even back in 1993, documentaries from that the time akin Internet to CB radio hobbyists- with people just chatting about “stuff”, as opposed to being the backbone of a new global economy.
I agree, raw, AT&T was right on the money with all of these.
If AT&T was right on the money, A-A-L, how come they missed the boat on cashing in?
Lucent fell short of expectations, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Mac, Dell, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Cisco … and others have all benefited from the future predicted by AT&T.
MEANWHILE, the new AT&T, a merger of several baby bells, is in a life-and-death struggle with cable, other cell phone companies, the government, and some of the other companies I mentioned.
AT&T didn’t really understand how the products they were developing would be used. They missed an opportunity by not being practical.
There were some sci-fi short stories from the 1960’s that viewed computers as a threat to freedom … the computers are all depicted as gigantic mainframes … everything is centralized. There’s also a great episode of The Prisoner that touches on the danger of being overly dependent on computers.
I think all that sci-fi stuff, like the AT&T commercials, were heading in the right direction with their predictions … and I can no-prize their attempts to predict and give them a YES! … but they were unable to see the practical applications. Damian is correct in his assessment.
Predictions of the future, overall, tend to be either overly negative or overly idealistic and clean.
Thanks, Tony, I was being VERY strict in my YES and NO assessments, simply because the campaign was SOOOO over-the-top and confident.
I went threw all of the No-Prizes in my head, as everything is subjective, but the bottom line is the exact scenes along with the exact words of the voice-over are not from this current timeline.
“You WILL..and the COMPANY that will bring it to you?…AT&T!” < --yeah, right
As you said, Tony, it truly is amazing how the other companies cashed in.
***
And just to put things in perspective: it’s going to be 2008 in a few days, yet the average citizen in Thailand never heard of a “GPS”.
Movies and commercials like these fall victim to being set in the times that they are in. While I applaud them for their innovative thinking, I must condemn them for their belief that they and ONLY THEY will be the bringers of technology.
While Sci-Fi stories like Terminator or the Matrix, for instance show a future where technology has become self-aware and destructive, it is my belief that the evolution of technology will happen along-side humanities’ evolutionary process. I don’t believe that one will overtake the other. Both will always be dependent on the other for their survival.
Back to AT&T being the grand messenger, you may remember a little movie called Bladerunner, where people still made Telephone calls using phone booths, even though, in the year it was made mobile cell phones, in vehicles, were in existence.
We really can never see beyond our own reach. And by the way, I really don’t want a bunch of 90 year olds driving flying cars. I can see the headline now,
THE GREAT SKYWAY CRASH OF 2015
Twelve people are dead and twenty-five others were hospitalized after a crash on Highway 26 near Sandyport Skylift Friday night.
Anytown Police said the crash involved three flycars in the eastbound skylanes near the Southmont Hover-Entry, about four miles east of Sandyport, around 8 p.m. Friday.
The eastbound lanes were closed for several hours after the crash, which remains under investigation.
The identities of the people involved have not been released.