Erica Serra

ENC1101
5 April 2015
Rotten Apple?
Apple Inc., as many of you know, is a major technology company that is a multinational
industry and is the second largest information technology company in the world. (Wikipedia,
Apple Inc.) In 2011, Apple Inc. had been criticized for pollution in the factories in China by
the Chinese environmentalists. factories that the group suspected were Apple suppliers often
fail to properly dispose of hazardous waste and that 27 of the suppliers had been found to have
environmental problems. (Barboza, Apple Cited as Adding to Pollution in China.) Apple Inc.
products are already huge in China. In fact, China has the busiest Apple stores in the world.
When Apple Inc. was accused they claimed that they had made many reports every year. Apple
has decided to "take advantage of loopholes" in developing countries' environmental
management systems to "grab super profits," it said. (Martina, Apple criticized for China
supply chain pollution.) They also said Apple has made this commitment that its a green
company. (Barboza, Apple Cited as Adding to Pollution in China) Toxic discharges from
"suspected Apple suppliers" have been encroaching on local communities and environments, a
coalition of environmental organizations said on Wednesday in a 46-page report alleging efforts
to conceal pollution. (Martina, Apple criticized for China supply chain pollution.) The
pollution in China persuaded me to make an ad fighting against pollution, not only in China, but
also globally and make a statement to the people, and Apple Inc. that pollution isnt something to
take lightly.
The company has manage to dodge a lot of the criticism brought about. They have also
been able to dodge the making of scandalous or inappropriate advertisements. I am not

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criticizing any ads from Apple Inc., just using an original to make my point about pollution. The
original ad I chose was a very simple advertisement that displayed the Apple logo (an apple) and
a short caption Think Different. The background color is plain black and the text and logo
color is a plain white color. Apple grabs the audiences attention with the simplicity of the
advertisement and how clean it looks. The ad is very modern looking as well as their
technological devices are modern looking as well. I chose this advertisement because it gives my
audience an understanding of what company I am referring to. It is a popular print advertisement
that anyone could recognize.
As explained earlier, Apple is a very popular company with many popular devices as well
as popular ads. I wanted to expose the darker side of Apple Inc. and what they have done to the
environment. I wanted to focus on uncovering the truth, not behind the advertisement, but behind
the company itself. To do that, I had to use an advertisement many people could recognize. It is a
twist that most people would be surprised to see so thats why I wanted to do it.
To uncover the truth about Apples environmental slip up to my audience, I used the
original advertisement and created my own anti-ad. My anti-ad has the same plain black
background as the original but I cut out the inside of the logo (the apple) and put a polluted
world inside to make it look like the world is in the apple. Then, I took the words on the bottom,
Think Different., and I took away the word Different and left the word Think. So the
basics of the entire ad is to keep the simplicity, like the original, but send a message about
pollution with only one word. I did not want to change my advertisement much because I wanted
it to be recognizable by anyone who has seen their advertisements before. By taking out the word
Different and leaving the word Think, it adds dramatic effect by telling the audience that
Apple doesnt think about the environment. It is not only a message to the public, but to Apple as

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well. A hidden message in the advertisement is when the audience looks at the advertisement and
they may take the time to actually think about the message being sent as well. The polluted world
gives the audience enough evidence to understand the message being sent. Since our world has
evolved into more technologically savvy times, I incorporated a QR- Code Scanner at the bottom
and a small sentence saying find out more. The QR Scanner leads to an article about Apples
pollution and gives my audience a chance to read about it themselves. The QR-Scanner ties in
the idea of keeping my anti-ad clean and modern. Since Apple likes making their ads sleek,
adding the QR-Scanner can keep my add simple but give the reader more information on a
separate site. Not only does the QR-Scanner keep my ad simple, but it also is quick and easy to
use. If youre on the run, you just scan it and go and read about it on your mobile devices.
Many persuasive methods have been used in this anti-ad. An example of a good tactic
that I used for my anti-advertisement is emotional appeal. People want to help the environment.
When they see a picture of a dirty globe with pollution, it appeals to their emotional side. No one
wants to see our world as a dirty place full of smog and I think seeing my ad with the polluted
globe, it will appeal to sadness, guilt, and slight anger towards Apple which is the effect I want to
occur. Also, many people are very busy during the day. When it comes to work, errands, or
school, people have places to be. By keeping my anti ad simple, I am giving my audience a
preview of the bigger picture. The advertisement is simple yet adds a sense of mystery. The
mysteriousness may add to the effect of my audience wanting to find out more. By adding the
QR- Scanner code, I am giving our younger audience a chance to find out about the issues Apple
and what they have been doing to Chinas environment and ours. QR Scanners are very new in
our technological generation so by incorporating it into my ad, I am appealing to the younger
generation as well as the older generation.

Since my audience is anyone who uses Apple products, or even people who dont, I
wanted to keep the original aspects of the old advertisement. I would place these advertisements
in major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., etc. By posting
these anti-ads there, it will reach the majority of people whom I want to share my ad with. I
would also try to get these ads out in Japan, Europe, etc. I want it to be seen worldwide. The
pollution is not only affecting China and the United States but it is a global issue. In these major
areas I would print out flyers and post them and hand them out in subway/train stations, bus
stations, by garbage cans, and on major billboards. All the major bus and subway services cause
pollution and its a great way to add on to the emotional effect. By placing them near garbage
cans and recycling bins you also incorporate ethos and persuade the general public to throw their
garbage away and recycle. So its a double effect. A great tactic as well as physical billboards is
to post these electronically which also helps get the message out about Apple and saves the
environment as well by conserving paper products. Most people who use electronics also are a
young generation and they are most likely on their Apple products or any kind of technological
device so it will intrigue my audience more and allow them to get a closer look and find out
more, faster.
Constructing my anti-ad I had to think about many different factors. Who am I appealing
to? Am I going to get my message across? What persuasive methods am I going to use? Will it be
persuasive enough? Or will my ad be too different that I lose all of my original ad? All these
different questions came up in my mind and I tried to keep the anti-ad as similar to the original
advertisement as possible. Because my original advertisement was so simple, it was difficult
coming up with something that could grab my audiences attention and send a message across
while keeping its simplicity. Getting my audience to understand what I am trying to say in this ad

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may not come across how I want it to be is what I mainly worry about with my antiadvertisement. I also wish I was better at Photoshop. If I was really good at it, my globe would
have looked better in the apple and I could have added some more polluted parts on the globe if I
knew how. If I had the apple completely filled out, the pollution parts wouldnt have showed up
so I had to shrink the globe a bit. I hope that people understand that the picture is of a polluted
world and the message I was trying to portray behind it. I wouldnt change anything major about
my new advertisement. The only thing I would possibly change is the word I used to be more
powerful but coming up with just one word to place in the ad that is powerful enough, is very
difficult.
My anti-advertisement brings about a different twist on the original prompt. The original
prompt had asked me to take an ad that was controversial and play around with it to create an
anti-ad to make fun of or go against the original advertisement and uncover the true meaning
behind the original ad, but instead I took a controversial occurrence of a major company (Apple)
and created an anti-advertisement out of a simple, modern, and popular ad. I took a risk and went
on a different path with the prompt but I believe I still incorporated it in to the prompt
appropriately. Thankfully, I dont think I went off track. Given the limitations I had with
technology (Photoshop) and the simplicity of my ad, I believe it is persuasive and grabs my
audiences attention using emotional response, uniqueness, appealing to the eyes, and more. If an
ad is too long or too busy, most people wont even read it but because it is so simple, it will catch
the eyes of my audience. I believe my anti-ad captures the essence of power, simplicity, and will
catch any audiences attention.

Bibliography
Martina, Michael. "Apple Criticized for China Supply Chain Pollution." Reuters. Thomson
Reuters, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2015
Barboza, David. "Apple Cited as Adding to Pollution in China." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 01 Sept. 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.
Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.