The visual essay “Apples to Oranges” by Claire Ironside presents the reader with a series of infographics displaying the environmental impact of industrially farmed, non-local produce. The author attempts to approach the audience using primarily facts and statistics. Despite these efforts, the essay lacks an explicit statement of the author’s argument, while the infographics used are ambiguous and misleading. The obscure images, lack of logical connections and absence of an explicit claim leave the reader more confused than persuaded. These problems require the reader to infer most of the information and context, which is contradictory to the purpose of a visual medium. In short, the author is summoning many facts and statistics to establish a strong logical appeal, but is failing to structurally connect these points, clearly deliver her argument to the audience, or effectively utilize the format of a visual essay to her convenience. This is why I believe that “Apples to Oranges” is ineffective in persuading its intended audience. The first impression that I felt as a reader after reading this essay was confusion. This is largely caused by the ambiguous nature of the infographics. If you examine the first page after the title images [Everything’s An Argument p.644], you see a blue figure on the top, next to it an equal sign, and below ten gas pumps. Only after you turn over to the next page and read the explanation will you realize that the blue blob is a food calorie, and