The Whole Story: A Speculative Apple Commercial

What ads leave out

Tech ads show a shiny product in perfect light. They don’t show the mines where the metals are dug up, the factories where the device is put together or the dumps where it ends up. This video keeps the look of an Apple ad but shows all of it. It is about an M6 MacBook, but the story is the same for almost every device we buy.

Inspired by The Story of Stuff

The idea comes from The Story of Stuff, a short film by Annie Leonard. It follows our things from the moment their materials are taken from the earth to the moment they are thrown away, and asks who pays the cost along the way. The video tells that story for one laptop. The people and places that carry most of the cost are the ones that never appear in an ad.

Paying the true price

Much of the dirty work is done by suppliers and subcontractors, so the companies that profit can point somewhere else when something goes wrong. The video ends by asking for more: a supply chain that is open and regulated from the mine to the landfill, companies that are legally responsible for every step, including the work of their subcontractors, and prices that include what it really costs to make a device and to get rid of it.

A speculative project

This is a speculative project and has nothing to do with Apple. Like the speculative iOS CO₂e dashboard, it does not try to sell anything. It asks what we would see if companies had to tell the whole story. Sources and footage credits are in the video description on Vimeo.

Links