Mobile technology is a strange world, as it’s the only place where innovation, creativity and wackiness can join together in forming one weird union. This type of debauchery usually rears its ugly head when companies try a bit too hard to grab the attention of consumers. And what’s the best way to seek attention? Commercial ads. So after going through many painful memories of the awful commercial ads we’ve watched of mobile devices in the past, we’ve decided to conjure up our “10 WTF? commercials in mobile.” This week we’ll begin with five commercials, and then torture you with the following five next Friday.
Samsung Galaxy Note Super Bowl commercial
Unfortunately, those of us who watched the Super Bowl this year, were probably stuck watching this. There were so many things in this commercial that made absolutely no sense. As the crowd began to scream out FREEDOM; my question at the time was, freedom from what exactly? I’m still trying to figure that out to this day.
Palm Pre commercial ad “Juggler in the Park Deja Vu Tamara Hope”
When you watch this commercial you get a better understanding of why the Palm Pre didn’t fare so well. I get an eerie feeling every time I watch this, as the lady speaking looks like an apparition; who might be Nordic? I don’t know what’s going on in this commercial. Do you?
Verizon HTC Rhyme commercial
Verizon is the top dog in the United States when it comes to wireless subscribers. One thing Big Red is known for is its incredible marketing machine that helps pump good out effective commercials of its latest and greatest device underneath the VZ brand. Well, the company isn’t perfect, as it delivered a stinker last year with the HTC Rhyme ad. Just when you thought the Palm Pre’s level of creepy was going to be unmatched, think again. For some reason, VZ found it necessary to show a multi-armed woman performing various task all with a blank and lifeless face. The HTC Rhyme was supposed to target the women demographic — yeah, that didn’t go so well.
Nokia PureView “The next innovation” commercial
Nokia showed off its new Lumia devices a couple of days ago at its event in New York. During the event the Finnish company went on and on about how great the PureView camera was on its new Lumia 920 handset. Nokia was so psyched about the devices camera that it released a commercial ad that was supposedly taken by the PureView — little did we know — we ended up learning the whole thing was a rouse. The Verge picked up on the fact that the whole video was filmed with a professional rig. Not a good look, Nokia.
T-Mobile Sidekick iD commercial
Besides this being such a bad phone, the commercial ad from T-Mobile was even worse. The ad shows everyone in a rush for some reason, as you got folks running out of the barbershop, running through the streets, and shop cart racing in the supermarket. What the hell does all of this have to do with the Sidekick iD, is anyone’s best guess.
That was the first five of our top WTF Moments in Mobile, so stay tuned for round two soon!