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Topic: Samsung

Samsung insults potential customers with Galaxy S III teaser (video)

Summary: Samsung both inspires and insults in its latest teaser for its upcoming Galaxy S III.

Ricardo Bilton

By for The ToyBox |

The things you buy aren't just things -- they're windows into your soul. Thats the message embedded in probably 90% of advertising today, including the latest plug for Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S III.

In a one-minute segment teasing the phone, Samsung goes full Hollywood, running images of various celestial bodies as a sweeping orchestral soundtrack beats below them. Vague and possibly mistranslated faux-meditative maxims float on screen: "Truly smart technology becomes a natural part of life," reads a line before it dissolves into the universe.

You get the idea.

The teaser is dull, but ultimately harmless -- that is, until it cuts to its last shot. In a clear (and perhaps by this point, trite) comparison of iPhone users to sheep (animals that can't even use cell phones, by the way), Samsung tries to appeal to its customers' sense of individuality, fine taste, and predilection for seamless intergalactic travel. The bit is useless and completely uninformative, not to mention insincere and logically unsound: Samsung would love if people were sheep for its products, after all.

But, then again, a teaser's prime focus is just to get people talking about it, which this one has certainly done. In that respect, as uninteresting as this latest one from Samsung is, it's hard to say it hasn't done its job.

As for the Galaxy S III itself, Samsung's recently-launched teaser site says some news on the Galaxy front is coming in about three hours or so.

Topics: Samsung, iPhone

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28 comments
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  • What a lousy title and article

    No, Samsung does not insult its potential customers because SGS III is not intended for sheep. It is intended for people who think before buying stuff. Sheep don't buy SGS III anyway. They buy what you-know-who tells them to buy, and that is not SGS III.
    coco montoya
    Reply Vote

    • Good title and article

      Especially funny that Samsung considers that for people having their knock-off devices is sign of "individuality" and "taste". It is an ultimate irony.

      If there would be this kind of advertisement for Rolix watches and Abibas shoes, public would react adequately.

      But when such product comes from Samsung people suddenly get very religious and defensive of the "right to copycat".
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

  • I liked the ad

    I thought it was well done.
    toddbottom3
    Reply Vote

  • Where r the sheep?

    Surprised sheeps are silent. May be stil grazing :)
    gauravk88
    Reply Vote

    • Well...

      They'll come to roost for sure. :D
      zeth06
      Reply Vote

  • Yeah whatever

    I am glad to see somebody taking it to Apple, we all know what Apple's weaknesses are but most ads do not exploit them.

    As for this one, it is simply making a point not to buy just because others are.
    slickjim
    Reply Vote

  • Pointless

    This article is just plain pointless and a clear jab on Samsung. Wheres your review and critique about the latest Windows phone commercial, or the latest Ipad commercial. Some how a commercial for an upcomming android phone gets torn appart and analyzed. Bias much?
    p.s If we're to take your premise that sheep can't use phones than im guessing Michelin should scrap the micheline tire man since you know cartoon characters aren't made out of rubber so wheres your critique or their ads?
    wolfn11
    Reply Vote

    • Yeah

      Yeah, pretty much. Hard to find an objective review website. CNET shamelessly provides free marketing for Apple. Even Autoblog has been known to raise its pom-poms for specific car brands.

      I'd say take the author's opinions with a grain of salt.
      zeth06
      Reply Vote

  • Really? You felt the need to point out that

    Sheep are animals that can???t even use cell phones, so that's a sticking point with you?

    You must have been a real hoot with you kids, telling them you're not taking them to any Disney movies, as animals really can't talk in real life.
    William Farrel
    Reply Vote

  • Not me

    I'm one of those 'old school' types who thinks that it's never a good idea to insult potential customers. There are ways to make current Samsung customers feel good about themselves without telling The Other Guy's customers that you don't like them and don't want their business when it comes time for them to get a new phone.
    Robert Hahn
    Reply Vote

  • iphone users arent potential android customers. android was targeted at

    carriers who couldnt get the iphone to force onto their customers. The only people who want android are the techweenies. The rest of the android base are the unsuspecting who took whatever the carrier was pushing. Most of them dont know or care what an os is or that a phone has one.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply Vote

    • Calling all Android users as techweenies

      is as insult than calling iPhone users as sheep...
      HufflepuffBR
      Reply Vote

    • Isn't Steve Jobs a techweenie? Of course he is.

      {NT}
      The Danger is Apple
      Reply Vote

  • Who Says?

    I don't see where Apple users were singled out as being represented by the sheep. They're talking about a phone here after all. There are just as many people using Android based phones as iPhones (more altogether). This commercial is simple and uses tactics that have been used countless times before.

    It doesn't really insult anyone because it's point is to get you to look at (and ultimately buy) the Galaxy S III. It basically insinuates that all the phones out there now are alike, while the Galaxy S III will be different, and [i]you[/i] will be different and going your own way if you get a Galaxy S III. There's no insult because you are being given the opportunity to do this and stand out from the crowd. The insult is to everybody [i]else[/i] besides the viewer (even though the viewer is really hoped to be as close to everyone as possible).

    Sure, on a logical level, we all know that this will be nonsense and that this phone will not be as unique as all that, but that doesn't stop this advertising tactic from working. It's a standard advertising tactic that's been around for years. Apple is certainly no stranger to the tactic with their history of Mac commercials. It's funny that the tactic is so effective because most people seem to want to blend in with everyone else while still somehow feeling like they are standing out. Advertisements play on each of these basically conflicting feelings all the time.
    CFWhitman
    Reply Vote

  • So it's not okay for Samsung to make "comparison of iPhone users to sheep"

    But it's totally okay if Apple made fun of PC users in Get a Mac ads.

    Totally got it. Definitely not hypocritical at all.
    Samic
    Reply Vote

    • But...

      They never actually did make fun of PC users per se. They did poke a little gentle fun at "PC", but NEVER the users. Actually, they were pretty kind with their treatment of "PC" himself, in one memorable ad Mac complements PC on doing "amazing things with spreadsheets" (or similar).

      These ads poke fun at Apple customers - it's something quite different, and very unlike anything Apple have ever done.
      jeremychappell
      Reply Vote

      • This isn't insulting...

        This is not insulting them, it is challenging them not to follow the pack like a helpless, mindless animal!

        The only people insulted are the people that didn't make their own mind up but rather purchased because everyone else did!
        slickjim
        Reply Vote

      • No It Doesn't

        This ad doesn't poke fun at Apple customers in particular. A lot of other smartphones are Android phones. This ad is just trying to give the viewer the impression that this new phone is something that will make him stand out from the crowd, regardless of what kind of phone they have.

        I seem to remember the 1984 Mac ad portraying everyone as drones who were being led around by Big Brother. It was a very similar sentiment to this ad. I don't remember being offended by the ad, though, because that wasn't the point of the ad. The point was to say that something new was coming. That's the point here too.
        CFWhitman
        Reply Vote

      • Let me see

        Apple call me (PC User - worse Linuxer) a geek and this is humor.

        Samsung call iPhone user sheep and this is offence...

        I had understood.
        HufflepuffBR
        Reply Vote
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