What Makes An Apple Rotten?

Why is Apple such a ridiculously huge and successful company? What is their basic formula?

We know Apple makes a lot of money because they employ slave labor. And we know they sell a lot of units, so they are able to command a very cheap price per unit from all their suppliers. And we know that they offer products that are locked down and oversimplified, which is appealing to a certain segment of the population.

But is that it? I think all of those factors pale in comparison to the product placement. Apple makes a great deal of its money from the zombies staring at the tv screen every night who see the apple signet (on every single notebook on every single tv show, for example) and immediately go into idol worship mode. They are subconsciously convinced that they must possess this symbol because the idols that they worship on tv all seem to possess that symbol. It is simple idol worship, programmed into the masses using the powerful high bandwidth direct download link that we call television.

Apple is a zombie exploitation company. People should not buy their product on PURE MORAL GROUNDS. Why is that so hard to understand? I do not understand why or how so few people comprehend basic morality. There is no reason for any rational person to tolerate what Apple does to advertise their products.

And no, it does not matter whether or not Apple directly pays actors and directors to shovel that symbol onto the screen whenever possible. It makes no difference. Basic morality demands that you admonish that symbol itself, including the company it represents, regardless of the role they played in misusing that symbol. Tolerating this is like tolerating an ad that is literally pasted onto your contac lens. I get the feeling that many people simply would not care if all these mega-corporations' symbols and signets were pasted all over their contac lenses. If you have any foresight at all then you already know that that is the next step if you continue to enable the tactics Apple uses. But whatever. So I just pity the foo who watches tv and hope and pray that their stupidity doesnt screw me over too badly.

Symbolism is very powerful in our culture. Abuse of symbolism should not be tolerated. The societal penalties for abuse of symbolism should be severe. In the case of Apple I do believe it will completely destroy the company once broad recognition of this abuse becomes clear to the masses. Especially when they find out that Apple destroyed more American jobs than it ever created.

At what point did a small and innovative company morph into a behemoth monstrosity that invades people's subconscious minds while simultaneously tracking their body's every movement?