Apple and its retailers need advertising to drive in sales, a practice normally did globally. There are however exceptions with the Cupertino company blacklisting certain publications for several reasons – including politically-motivated ones.
China is one of the biggest markets where Apple gets a chunk of its revenue. To keep their business afloat, the need to appease the government is a need – including selecting the right mediums to place their ads. One publication that has been hit is The Vision China Times. According to the news medium’s general manager (Maree Ma), the last time an iPhone appeared was back in October 2015 with the iPhone 6s from Telstra. Since then, the no iPhone had followed, Apple Insider reported.
While the publication still gets ads from carriers, such does not include Apple products. A look at rival publications shows Apple products as the iPhone appear, Ma believes that The Vision China Times is in the blacklist driven by political reasons. The Vision China Times is not the only one bearing the brunt with other publications like the Epoch Times showing no Apple products being advertised as well.
All these suggest that China is trying to increase media control even across borders. It is not the first time that they have done so, recalling a case back in 2014. This involved a Hong Kong newspaper, the Apple Daily where two London-based banks stopped ads because of pressure from Chinese authorities, the Guardian reported. Apple Daily is one Hong Kong’s biggest-selling newspapers with almost 200,000 daily sales.
For Apple, the numbers best justify the blacklisting moves. China accounts for $16.23 billion in revenue and one can just imagine the losses if the Cupertino company loses customers in the region. To avoid that, Apple needs to play China’s game, one of which is to properly select the news mediums where they place their ads.
