Old habits at Samsung, LG embarrass them abroad

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http://www.adn.com/2014/04/03/3407284/old-habits-at-samsung-lg-embarrass.html?sp=/99/171/



FILE - In this undated file photo released by LG Electronics Inc., a model poses with an LG Electronics' 105-inch ultra-HD TV with a curved screen in Seoul, South Korea. Samsung Electronics Co., which is preparing for the global launch of the Galaxy S5 smartphone on April 11, 2014, said it is making “concentrated efforts” to ensure its communications around the world respectfully portray women. Some of its promotions and corporate events in the past year were criticized as sexist and demeaning. The advertising of LG Electronics Inc. has also been under scrutiny in South Korea and abroad for its portrayal of women.

Old habits at Samsung, LG embarrass them abroad
By YOUKYUNG LEE
AP Technology Writer
April 3, 2014 Updated 6 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea — When Samsung unveiled a new smartphone at the storied Radio City Music Hall, the Broadway-style spectacle was memorable not for technology but for a cast of giggling female characters who fantasized about marrying a doctor, fretted about eating too much cake, and needed a man's help to understand how to work the phone.

The stereotypes were blatant even for an industry where skimpily clad booth babes are a staple of trade shows and high-level female executives are a rarity. A backlash spread online as the event, live-streamed on the Internet and broadcast in Times Square, unfolded.

How could an international company that wants to be seen as an innovator and spends more than $11 billion a year on advertising and promotions so badly misjudge its audience? Without too much difficulty and often it turns out.

A day before the Galaxy smartphone launch in March last year, the company was criticized in South Africa for using models in bikini tops to show its newest refrigerators and washing machines.