You know how Samsung will often try to promote a new product at the competition’s expense, typically choosing Apple as a target (that almost never retaliates) for anything from TV commercials to good old fashioned billboards and essentially their modern-day social media equivalents?
During yesterday’s big Galaxy S23 series announcement (and a little bit after), the tables were turned by OnePlus, which attempted to build (further) hype around its latest ultra-high-end handset by relentlessly mocking the company’s largest global rival.
The end result of this unorthodox Twitter effort can be described in a number of ways, but “mixed” is probably the most fair overall assessment. While a few jabs thrown in Samsung’s direction certainly landed, pointing out some (rather obvious) weaknesses of the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra in a (mildly) humorous way, other attacks fell disappointingly flat, drawing criticism and even ridicule from many OnePlus followers.
It’s definitely worth highlighting that the excessively lengthy Twitter thread dedicated to the latest Unpacked event was posted on the OnePlus USA account, while the company’s larger global account did not retweet or acknowledge any of these “jokes” in any way.
That’s similar to the tactic Samsung sometimes employs to make fun of iPhone launches, although the tech giant’s September 9, 2022 thread reacting to what Apple had announced two days before, for instance, stopped at four very elaborate and arguably much more humorous posts.
Whether or not you agree with that characterization (or the rest of the “opinions” expressed by OnePlus in regards to the competition since yesterday), it’s probably safe to describe this entire unconventional advertising play as just a tad desperate.
