“The fact is, Samsung is having a spectacularly bad run of PR, and to cover themselves in the future, they should probably just come clean about all their products’ flaws,” Oliver says before running a chaos-filled spoof Samsung ad (above) that promises customers a new level of honesty about its products and “no more surprises.”
According to the ad, “the truth” is that its phones “secretly call your mom on speakerphone whenever you’re having sex,” and that its fitness band makes you “look like a total douche.”
The one promise that it can “absolutely make” is that “none of our products will explode anymore.” What happens next involves plenty of flames and swearing as the ad rapidly descends into carnage.
Following its tech-focused troubles last year, more bad news came Samsung’s way recently when its smart TVs showed up in a WikiLeaks-released document suggesting the CIA has the ability to hack them to listen in on private conversations. And just before that, Samsung de facto chief Lee Jae-yong was arrested on bribery charges.
Still, the company is hoping to turn a new page with the imminent launch of the Galaxy Note 8. Keen to reassure potential buyers that the new phone will not overheat or catch fire, Samsung has been running ads highlighting a new, vigorous 8-point test for each and every one of the Note 8 batteries.
The Note 7 received some pretty decent reviews prior to the first reports of problems last summer, so if the Note 8 can bring design improvements and a safely functioning battery, who knows, the company may yet be able to fix its battered reputation. And also escape further unwanted attention from Oliver and his team.
