Turkish teen selected for Apple ad campaign to travel to California

A 17-year-old resident of the Black Sea's Trabzon province, Turkish teen Mert Topal, will be traveling to California to work with tech giant Apple on a new ad campaign, local media reported on April 5. Topal said that he thought "Why not?" as he applied for the part in the ad campaign, and was very surprised to get a positive response.

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A 17-year-old high school student in Turkey's Black Sea province of Trabzon, Mert Topal, was invited to California by American tech giant Apple to work on an ad campaign, local media reported on April 5. 

Topal is also an amateur soccer player in the local team's youth group, and applied to the part in the ad campaign on the off chance that he received a positive response, he said.

"My friends and I always talk about our dreams of becoming models or actors," Topal said. "I saw the Apple ad after one of those conversations, and thought 'Why not?'"

Topal had talks with an Apple representative for a while before they asked him to interview online, the teenager said. 

"They told me I was accepted and needed to go to the U.S. My family couldn't believe it when I told them," Topal said. 

The high schooler will be accompanied by his mother, as he's a minor, and will leave for his four-month stay in California on April 20. 

Topal said that he hoped to contribute to his siblings' education with the payment he will receive from Apple.