A couple of castanets striking a spirited tune. A good old fashioned hardcover book. A folding chair on the bus. A delicious-looking sandwich. A refrigerator door. A core yoga pose. An absolutely massive slice of juicy pizza. A folding restaurant chair. An electric kick scooter. A toilet seat. A somewhat creepy-looking kid waving at a complete stranger on the street.
What do all these seemingly unrelated things have in common? In Samsung‘s view, basically any element of one’s day-to-day activity can be evocative of the company’s hot new foldable devices when one is so used to buying the “same phone over and over again” that they insist on convincing themselves (and exasperating all those around them) they “love” this mindless monotony.
The main character of the latest… unconventional Galaxy Z Flip 4 commercial essentially becomes obsessed with said sleek new Samsung handset after (presumably) seeing it in the flesh for the first time and hearing a few of its key strengths praised.
Just like in a “Black Mirror” installment (or perhaps an SNL parody of a Black Mirror episode), “Elena” grows ever more consumed with her new obsession, fighting the temptation of going against her possibly manipulated beliefs until… cracking and ordering a Z Flip 4 right from an iPhone that refuses to fold in half under pressure.
Equal parts entertaining and eerie, Samsung’s new Apple-mocking advertisement includes a lot of subtext that many viewers might find problematic and more than a few iPhone users are likely to get offended by.
But as much as these kinds of publicity stunts can contribute to further widening the divide and enhancing the animosity between hardcore Apple and Android fans, the key and virtually indisputable quality of this particular commercial is that… it’s really funny.
Regardless of your “allegiance” to a specific mobile OS or smartphone vendor, you should be able to laugh at yourselves and one another, thus uniting behind the quality humor flag. Kudos to Samsung for pulling off such a feat… mere days after arguably pulling it off with a shorter, punchier, and less creepy video foreshadowing yesterday’s iPhone 14 announcement.
