Tough competition can cause companies to do crazy things and, as this story about Huawei goes, might even make you look foolish in the process.
Especially if it isn’t the first time you’ve attempted to pull such an ill-conceived stunt.
In a bid to promote their new Nova 3 and Nova 3i smartphones, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is being accused of using photos taken with a DSLR camera to promote the device’s capabilities.
A bright and vibrant commercial featuring a man and woman living the life with their Huawei smartphone features a myriad of scenes that are breathtakingly captured – and therein lies the problem.
Viewers with a keen eye for photography pointed out that there was no way these pics were taken with the Huawei Nova 3 and 3i.
Of course, this isn’t idle speculation by a few disgruntled Internet commenters. In the good tradition of Internet investigative reporting, it was eventually uncovered that the pictures were definitely not taken with the smartphone.
The real smoking gun was discovered when users cross referenced Sarah Elshamy’s Instagram account. She is the actress in the promotional commercial for the Huawei Nova 3 and 3i.
There people found pictures from the shoot for the Huawei commercial and, in particular, a scene showing the male actor featured alongside Elshamy pretending to hold up a smartphone to take a selfie while, in reality, the couple were being photographed by a Canon DSLR as pointed out by DP Review.
The actress has since deleted the picture from her Instagram account but, because, like diamonds, the Internet is forever, users have spread the pic far and wide.
As Engadget points out, Huawei doesn't specifically say that the Nova 3 smartphone took these pictures but the implication is there all the same. Maybe it's less of an attempt at lying and more of a lack of understanding of what kind of marketing would appeal to people buying smartphones specifically for their camera capabilities. One hint, naturally, is probably showing what it can actually do.
This isn’t the first time the manufacturer has done this sleight of hand with regard to pictures taken with their smartphones. The Huawei P9 was also released to similar controversy and it seems like the company has yet to reel in their marketing.
You can view the commercial for the Huawei phone here on YouTube.
