Opinion: Have Samsung’s Apple comparison ads gone too far?

If you’re a regular CoolSmartPhone reader, you’ve probably read Jamie Ryan’s post last week about their new ad campaign that bears the tagline “It doesn’t take a genius”. The ad was designed to take momentum away from the iPhone 5 launch and divert attention to the Samsung Galaxy S3, which launched earlier this year. However, the move didn’t really work, with Apple announcing that 2 million iPhone 5’s had been pre-ordered within 24 hours of them becoming available. So, Samsung changed tactics and decided to make a video showing the merits of the GS3 not compared to any device… no, not really.

They’ve just released this video on YouTube, basically mocking iPhone users who are excited about the new iPhone launch (and waiting in line for the device). In this 1 minute, 31 second video (which you can watch below), I counted 36 seconds in which the GS3 was being displayed. That’s just over 1/3 of the total advert time… spent talking about the phone. So, what do they do with the other (just under) 2 thirds? Well, they:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Now, to be brutally honest, I really don’t like the way Samsung are heading with this advertising campaign. I think they need to concentrate on their own features rather than attempt to scorn the competition – after all, they do have some good ones! And, before someone calles me a fanboy, I use a Samsung phone (the Galaxy S Advance to be precise).

Come on Samsung, you’re better than this.

[Update] The video in question (embed didn’t work first time): here

via The Verge

Update 2: Forgot to mention this in the article, but Apple have done this before – remember Mac vs PC? Before anyone calls me hypocritical, I thought that wasn’t a good ad either, even though it was successful. (Thanks Ravi for reminding me!)

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