unlike newspapers at that time, it used colour printing on all pages of the newspaper and did not allow advertisements covering the complete front page. since then, it has attracted a large readership. other newspapers followed suit, and a few were forced to close due to intense competition from "apple daily". techniques used by "apple daily" to gain readership included price warring, extensive use of written cantonese, at a time when most hong kong newspapers used written vernacular chinese, and a focus on reporting crime, celebrity news, eroticism, gambling, and drug use.