Fortnite's primary demo is people in their teens and early 20s. They are all too young to get the cultural reference of this ad. This isn't directed at them - hell, how many of them have actually read 1984? (Honest question, is that book still taught in high school?)
This ad is targeted at us. I'm inclined to agree with others in this thread who think this entire episode was some kind of product operation, designed to exit the (probably failing) mobile market and gin up some controversy as a convenient excuse.
1984 is still a very popular book to assign in schools.
It's both. The cleverness of this ad isn't just that those that get the reference think it's a great riff but if you don't get the reference that means your first time seeing this legendary ad is not for the Mac but about this issue. In either case it's a great success for awareness and the hashtag at the end doesn't hurt either. Also it's not just an ad they put on YouTube this plays as a cinematic when players launch Fortnite right now.
And of course it's all planned. Not only is it perfect timing to do this but mere minutes after getting banned they posted legal action and pushed a cinematic in game. You can't just do that instantly without having known.
This ad is targeted at us. I'm inclined to agree with others in this thread who think this entire episode was some kind of product operation, designed to exit the (probably failing) mobile market and gin up some controversy as a convenient excuse.