Los Angeles — Of late, Samsung and Apple are having quite a feud, and now the Electronics giant has created another stir among techies with ads that look like a deliberate provocation to Apple. It now seems that Korean company appears to have hired the same child actress that promoted the iPhone 4S camera for a Galaxy Tab 8.9 TV commercial in its native Korea.
Cheered up by recent victories in court in its war with Apple, sparked after Apple alleged Samsung’s Galaxy Tab “slavishly copied” the iPad, Samsung has become ever more confrontational in its advertising.
However, this week has uncovered some of the most curious dig at Apple yet, though: A girl who appeared for advertising Apple’s iPhone 4S now also appears in an ad for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet PC, which it started advertising at home and abroad last month. In the Samsung ad, the girl is seen using the gadget with her father.
Cheryl Lindo Jones, who first discovered that a new Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE commercial for the Korean market — mentions that the electronics giant uses the same young actress as Apple’s iPhone 4S camera commercial. Check out both ads after the cut.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: The same girl appeared in ads for the Apple iPhone (left) and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab (right).
However, in Apple’s promo, the youngster is shown acting for the iPhone 4S’ camera, the smartphone’s onboard editing functionality used to tweak it before sending it out to Twitter. Samsung, meanwhile, also has some mugging for the camera, showing the girl excited by the flexibility of the 4G slate.
Generally, models who have already advertised for products of certain companies are usually kept out of advertising for rival brands. But, the South Korean consumer electronics giant — now the top smartphone maker in Australia, according to IDC — released two ads for its Galaxy S II smartphone that launched thinly veiled attacks on Apple products and mocked the hordes who line up for days to buy them.
Apple fans, a particularly committed breed, accuse Samsung of copying not just Apple’s designs but even its advertising. Samsung refuses it had any such intention. A spokesman for the firm said the girl was selected in an audition by “an overseas advertising firm” and Samsung had no idea she had advertised Apple.
There are possibilities it might just be a coincidence, but considering how many other cues Samsung has taken from Apple recently, we would not put it past the company to capitalize on talent when it sees it.
However, the name of the actress is not yet known but watching the videos side-by-side shows the star of both ads is clearly the same person.
“It is an hilarious game Samsung are playing … I wish more advertisers would have the guts to try this sort of stuff,” said Iain McDonald, founder of the digital marketing agency Amnesia.
“Generally they play it safe so it is good to see someone having a bit of fun.”
Samsung appears to have been furiously trying to remove the ad from the web since the news broke and has deleted it from its YouTube channel, but you can watch it below, along with the Apple ad.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE advert:
{iframe width=”640″ height=”480″}http://www.youtube.com/embed/hE4T1b_iSN8{/iframe}
Apple iPhone 4S advert:
{iframe width=”640″ height=”360″}http://www.youtube.com/embed/vSAje0EgYjY{/iframe}