What If… Apple was a dirty word.

In this project we had to come up with a “What If” scenario.

What if … Brands took control of the words they are named after and enforced exclusivity to them of it.

Context:
In the not too distant future the use of this word is now restricted.
Brands own exclusive rights to the word they are named after.
There is a need to find alternate names for things.

Notes:
The ministry of trying to do something about it – ration book promoting consideration for how we use resources
No Shop by Thomas Matthews – Promotes buy nothing day
They Live – movie by John Carpenter about the subliminal messages behind advertising

Research – The language of the Apple, Protest and Censorship

: Style: “as_1”

: Adam and Eve

Creations

: Font based on positions of dots

: Hidden words font

Images from the Final Product – A protest magazine for protest group “The 84”

Content

I remembered the day Wikipedia was blocked. I sat at my desk, constantly refreshing the page and hoping that it was all a bad joke.

It wasn’t. This was about five years ago and to this day, you still cannot access it.

I don’t remember the day Facebook was blocked, or Youtube, or Twitter; I was too young. Back then, my idea of defying the rules was Googling the date June 4th, the date of AppleGate. If you searched for the “wrong” term then your internet could go down for half an hour.

In 2058 it was estimated that some 18,000 websites were blocked across the world, and the number has only grown exponentially since then. On social media, the users have had to learn to censor themselves resulting in some very creative nicknames to subtly reference things from the past instead.

When the corporations became the government and officials came to inspect our school, all the teachers took down any posters that were not branded. We happened to be learning about Newton in history at the time.

As a result, I grew up with a clear idea of what it was like to not have freedom of speech, so let me be clear: freedom of speech is bloody important. Recently Lonfords University had banned a magazine called AisforApple from their Freshers’ Fair, on the grounds of it being offensive. The apparent irony of this was quickly snapped up by various national news outlets. Having spoken to some of the editors and contributors of the magazine, and having had the dubious pleasure of reading certain excerpts of it, I cannot help but be exasperated by the way in which this has played out. The university issued a statement and noted “The magazine included a graphic description of historical events that were untrue and defamatory of our country’s government.”

Controversial political opinions can be important. Healthy debate about these opinions is important and it is because of this I, and a few others created The84. Welcome.