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You gotta give it to OnePlus. For being a newcomer to the industry, they’ve managed to make quite a name for themselves and it didn’t even take spending a sh*t ton of money to do it. There’s no question they’re offering a compelling product with the OnePlus One, undercutting the big dogs and still offering a phone with more bang for the buck. But it’s OnePlus’ grassroots marketing techniques that are raising eyebrows for some.
Take their “Smash the Past” contest for instance. The promotion — which doesn’t officially kick off for another 12 more hours — offers the upcoming OnePlus One smartphone at an extremely discounted price of only $1. The catch? You’ll have to smash your old smartphone to get it.
As we told you guys yesterday, you’ll first have to sign up for the chance to be randomly selected. Once chosen, you’ll then have the opportunity to prove your love for the OnePlus One by destroying your old smartphone via whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re already seeing a few OnePlus One hopefuls jump the gun, smashing their smartphones without first reading the entry rules. It’s painful to watch, but you’ll find video proof below.
Again, you’re supposed to sign up for an invite first, then smash your phone — not the other way around. Now, we’re sure a few of the people in these videos didn’t damage their primary phone, probably some dusty old ones they had laying around the house. That still doesn’t make it any less painful.
And before you run over to their channels and leave them all kinds of nasty insults (seriously, don’t do that), we think OnePlus could have exercised a teensy bit more caution when advertising a promotion like this. We’re still waiting around for full entry rules which, according to the Smash the Past landing page, says will be revealed in 12 hours time. In the meantime, hang on before putting those old phones on the chopping block. Those looking to participate, you can sign up for the Smash the Past contest via the link below.
[OnePlus Smash the Past signups | via Reddit]
The only sad part about it is that these phones probably aren’t these idiots’ primary phones and if they are they’ll probably get insurance replacements. And no, OnePlus shouldn’t have done a teensy more anything. They share no blame for people’s sheer stupidity.
Just think if HTC or Samsung offered a similar promotion. They’d land themselves a heap ton of bad press if people started damaging their own property (even if it was their own fault for not reading the rules properly).
And that’s a huge problem with society-nobody takes any personal responsibility for anything. Just because the masses are quick to blame everyone but themselves doesn’t make it right or ok.
I totally agree. People should take more responsibility. But remember when LG was giving away G2s by putting them in balloons? People started shooting each other trying to pop the balloons, forcing LG to cancel the whole dang contest. Even though the promotion wasn’t flawed (the participants were), LG received a lot of bad press for it.
Source: http://phandroid.com/2013/08/12/lg-g2-stunt/
Never undersetimate the stupidity of the general public.
This has nothing to do with this article but I am suffering from phone lust. I’m on Verizon and want to buy this phone for a prepaid plan. Your comments during the unveiling still have me cracking up.
Another huge problem is wastefulness, the promotion could have easily been give your phone to someone in need, how much good press would that have garnered?
agreed… all for marketing I guess…
Society lacks reliability , accountability , and excellence ; a lot of society lacks those qualities . No one is perfect , but at least be excellent .
Lol they still haven’t put up the rules for the contest which isn’t starting for another 8 days. I’m sure they will mention that the phone has to be somewhat recent and working condition. All those guys on YouTube are breaking phones like 4-5 years old. The guy who broke his galaxy s2 seemed legit though.
Edit: din’t see the HTC one smash video, feel bad for that guy.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA idiots
some people don’t follow directions very well.
lol
I wonder what they are thinking now?
“mama always said stupid is as stupid does”
Hey Chris are you going to smash your S5? :)
Ha. Already exchanged it for the HTC One M8, and already exchanged that for the LG G2. :P
Why the G2 over the M8?? Did I miss something about the G2?? lol
Ridiculous battery life!
no i doubt it was the battery life.
Dude the battery life is amazing though…
As a G2 user that has had a ton of phones I am sure it was a mix of.. The battery life, the screen, and the fact that it is still one of the fastest phones out and once you get used to those back buttons they are useful as hell.
It was more about the form factor. The phone is the perfect size thanks to small bezels. Battery life is a bonus.
I currently have the note 3 and sorta regret it. Its to damn big for one handed use and its frustrating at times when on the road or work, Dont get me wrong its s-pen and all function are killer for my type of work. I guess i could use something in between and if lg g3 make a phone with a 5.5 inch and the size of the g2 im SOLD.
hows the battery life on it compared to note 3?
G2 is super fast. UI sucks, but I use a 3rd party launcher/icon pack anyway. The form factor is mostly what makes it the perfect phone for me right now. Screen is wide, small bezels keep it from being too tall. Also, battery life is insane.
Was it because of the design?
Yeah, the M8 was too tall for me. Had HTC done away with the bottom “logo bezel”, I’d be able to reach all corners of my phone with my thumb. Also, the aluminum (teflon?) made it super slippery. I literally couldn’t do anything on it without it slipping out of my hands (I wash my hands a lot).
get the LG official flip cover!!!!! it is super low profile, protects pretty much the whole phone including screen, camera, and back buttons. And best of all, when you flip it all the way around the buttons and camera are still usable. Simple yet elogant.
Ahh shiz, I have a Nexus 5, Note 3 and a Moto X. This is going to be a tough decision if I am chosen >.>
Bye bye moto x lol
Idk, I prefer the moto x over the other 2 in hand, and its pretty smooth maybe a couple ms slower than the nexus 5 and note 3. I would hate to smash it.
Nexus 5 because the value of the note 3 is way higher. If I can get an invite it’ll be like trading my Nexus 5 for a more powerful phone.
For a more powerful? I thought the Nexus 5 had the Snapdragon 801 Processor? How is it less powerful than the OnePlus One?
Snapdragon 800 not 801, the 801 is slightly overclocked in both CPU and GPU.
I reckon you can sell your Note 3 for more than the cost of the 64gb One…
Its a Verizon note 3 lol. That lowers price dramatically.
Verizon note 3 will walk for 400+ all day, you forgot they are making people pay full price to keep unlimited data.
Do the iPhone, kill the iPhone lol
If they allow older phones I’ll destroy the iPhone 4 that I used before I switched to Android.
ill ait to see what else is in the horizon and if one plus set a new pricing trend than i hope the big 3 (SAMMY,HTC,LG) follow there footstep?? sorry if i missed any other companies.
where the F*** are the rules?
BWWWAAAHAHAHAAAAAHAAAAAAA I hope those fools end up with zippo!!! LOL stupidity in action.
Time to sign up…
website has crashed on launch!!
Not only are these people idiots, but the OnePlus marketing strategy is stupid, and infuriating.
is it though? because everyone here knows who it is and what it can do and when its launching. Can’t say the same for all phones.
Yep, ill conceived, dangerous(exploding batteries are a health hazard), wasteful marketing campaign.
Website just updated. Limited phones qualify.
Ah this is awesome, let the carnage begin!
This was part of their devious plan. Now these people will need new phones and what else than a cheap $300 phone that is as powerful as the other ones?