Apple Horror Story: Switching to Android

Samsung released a commercial that was more than advertising their Galaxy Note 8, they were also highlighting their cultural values for relationships that occur between two people, that matching strengthens the bond between the two and how smartphones play a small yet significant part in bringing people together by making communication simpler.

[ahssamsungda]

Samsung Galaxy: Growing Up

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This is a discourse analysis on Samsung’s latest commercial featuring the Galaxy Note 8. This commercial was released prior to the launch of the iPhone X. Samsung had already made a commercial for the Galaxy Note 8 itself, but this commercial included their rival, Apple.

This commercial is aired as a story, more specifically a love story, between the man and his phone and between a man and a women. I think its interesting to note that this commercial does not focus on the specific features that the Galaxy Note 8 has to offer, instead it shows the views how having a reliable phone enhances ones social life in a romantic way.

[ahssamsungda]

The first and main relationship that is focused on is between the main character and his iPhone. Their love story begins happily when he first unboxes his iPhone in 2007; however, the feelings he has for his phone changes as he grows up and upgrades his iPhone. he begins to feel frustrated with his phone and he starts fall out of love because of the dissatisfaction he is getting from his phone. The main frustrations had to do with the insignificant storage in 2010, in 2013 the screen on his phone is still small and doesn’t have a stylus that allows him to write on his phone, in 2016 when his phone is not waterproof so his phone suffered some damage. Lastly, in 2017 when the phone did not have wireless charging but instead added more wires, making charging and listening to music with headphones impossible without the extra cord.

[thatcomputernerdblog]

[ahssamsungda]

Taking a closer look at the lyrics of the song that is being played throughout the commercial, we can infer that these are the thoughts and feelings that the main character is saying to his iPhone. The first line in the lyrics are stating how during that time 2007-2010 is when he “used to be spell bounded” in the the arms of his iPhone, but over time, the iPhone had “lost” its “charm” because of all the frustrations that it had put the main character through. He begins to fall out of love with his phone and this continues until we reach the year 2017. He unboxes his last iPhone and his expression isn’t excitement anymore, but disappointment. With this iPhone he was let down once again because the phone does not have wireless charging like his significant other’s, instead it now requires him to use more wires. Making charging his phone and listening to music an inconvenience. He ends that year with switching to the Galaxy Note 8 and the love and excitement that he once had when he first opened the iPhone back in 2007 is found again, but this time for a different phone. He walks past the iPhone X launching even and see the short line and passes it without looking back as he’s “moving on” from the world of the iPhone.

[ahssamsungda]

..and I'm moving on

Samsung: Growing Up

[ahssamsungda]

[ahssamsungda]

Practices

In the recent years, it has become a very popular trend in South Korea for young couples to show off their relationship status and affection for each other through matching couple clothing, couple rings (these are not engagement rings or promise rings), matching phone cases, matching phone charms and other matching items. In an article written by the South China Morning Post, They wrote about the growing popular trend of “coupling”  in South Korea.

I had also heard from my friends who are Korean and are from Korea that this is very popular. So popular that you will find stores online like The XXXY and Onepound have a specific category catering to that style. I have also seen this first hand during both of my trips to South Korea. You can see this when you go out in public, especially theme parks or other highly populated areas. 

Usually, it is the female who suggests doing this trend, so it is no surprise that in the Samsung commercial that the girl has the item that her boyfriend switches to match her later on in 2017. This small action emphasizes the matching couple aspect in relationships that is often seen in South Korea.

[colourmeehappy]

[two-rays-of-sunshine-blog]

Matching Phone Cases (Couple)

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

[jennyyourworld]

[tinykorea]

커투더플

[kyutiesposts]

[ulzzangkk]

🌹

[kyutiesposts]

[ahssamsungda]

With the connection building tool that Gee says in his How to do a Discourse Analysis: A Tool Kit, to ask “ how the words and grammar being used in the communication connect or disconnect things or ignore connections between things.” Since, I am looking at a commercial with very limited spoken text, I will focus mainly on the images that are being shown, the music being played and the few words spoken and shown. 

Samsung uses this commercial to build a connection with it’s viewers, stating that a smartphone is embedded in our everyday life and we use it as a way to communicate easily with other people. They also portray that having a good reliable phone enhances how you can communicate. An example of this was when the main character got his iPhone to take a picture of his car filled with personal items. One can infer that he was moving away to college or to different location. He wanted to show that picture to someone, but due to the phone’s insufficient storage made this small task problematic. Similar to the first example, the issue of pictures came up again when he went and fell into what appears to be a lake with his significant other. They fell in the water and only one of their phones was still functional. At this time, the main character’s iPhone had yet to be waterproof, resulting in not being able to use his phone. Making it an inconvenience to share pictures.

[ahssamsungda]

With the uses of the relationship building tool, the practices tool, and the connection building tool, they reflect Samsung’s figured world, the Galaxy world as I would call it, of how valued building and maintaining relationships are. They show how a strong relationship is one that influences one’s choices to match the ideals of their partner. They highlight the importance that smartphones are just one of the ways people can achieve maintaining and building relationships.

[khadidon]

Android users be like…