Earlier this month, Cleveland Indians slugger Brandon Moss drilled his 100th career home run, only to see the ball land in the Indians’ bullpen where the pitching staff decided to hold the ball for ransom in exchange for a laundry list of demands that included an assortment of Apple products, from iPhones and iPads to Macs and Apple Watches.
When Apple became aware of the Indian pitchers’ Apple-centric ransom demands, Apple’s marketing team went to work. So at WWDC last week, Tim Cook referenced the story and said that Apple would deliver all of the items in question.
As we highlighted yesterday, Samsung recently tried to pull off the same stunt with Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer tweeting out that the Indians pitching staff wanted an assortment of Samsung products in exchange for Moss’ first hit ball. But as it turns out, Bauer’s tweet was embarrassingly sent from an iPhone.
UPDATE: A Samsung spokesperson contacted BGR to clarify that Trevor Bauer’s tweet was not part of a Samsung initiative.
Sadly, this is just the latest example in a long list of Samsung advertising and PR fails. You would think Samsung would learn by now that paying celebrities to temporarily espouse the virtues of all things Samsung is nothing more than a recipe for disaster.
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That being the case, below are just a few of Samsung’s more notable PR flubs over the last few years.
Kate Upton poses with her iPhone
In 2012, Samsung hired model Kate Upton to promote and attend a Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet launch event. Sounds great, only someone forgot to tell Upton that she should have probably kept her white iPhone 4 tucked away while on duty.
Tennis star David Ferrer loves the Galaxy S4, or does he?
This is a gem that you may not have seen before. Samsung in 2013 decided to sponsor the Mutua Madrid Open Tennis tournament. In turn, we saw Spanish tennis star David Ferrer tweet out that he’s happy with his new Galaxy S4 and that he’s configuring the Samsung S Health feature to help him with his training. Alas, the scripted tweet was sent out from his iPhone.
Samsung’s Facebook page gets a dose of Apple fandom
In 2012, Samsung’s Facebook page asked users which electronic device they’d take with them to a deserted island. The responses probably weren’t what Samsung was expecting.
David Beckham, Samsung ambassador but iPhone user at heart
Always looking to get some star power behind its brand, Samsung in 2012 made former Soccer star David Beckham a global brand ambassador during the 2012 London Olympics. Not a bad plan, but Beckham remains an iPhone user at the end of the day.
And here’s good ole’ Becks refusing to pick up a call during an LA Galaxy press conference because “it’s not a Samsung.”
Oscar Selfie
Remember the famous selfie Ellen Degeneres took at the Samsung sponsored Oscars last year?
Well, when not forced to use a Samsung device as part of a rather clever guerrilla marketing campaign, Ellen is actually an iPhone gal at heart.
Is Samsung still not getting the hint?
This past September, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine appeared on stage at a Samsung event as the company announced its Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge. And though Levine joked about a ceremonial iPhone burning, it seems that Levine couldn’t truly part ways with his beloved iPhone.
“We’re going to have a ceremonial iPhone burning after this.” – Adam Levine pic.twitter.com/IAB8XbZwuf
— d@n (@dcseifert) September 3, 2014
Just a few days later, he was back with his iPhone.
John Legere gets into the mix
T-Mobile CEO John Legere undoubtedly uses many devices, but if you’re going to be singing the praises of the Galaxy Note 3, you might want to do it from a Samsung device, not an iPhone.
Samsung + Soccer = Another fail
In late 2013, famed German Soccer coach and former player Franz Beckenbauer was part of a Soccer-oriented Samsung campaign built around a “Galaxy 11” fantasy team featuring big names stars like Lionel Messi. Well, as you can probably guess by now, Beckenbauer was caught hyping up Samsung from his iPhone.
