Samsung allegedly hired students and random people to talk shit about HTC products. There you go; I said it out loud. If you think this was the first time for a company to switch to “unethical” marketing tactics, think again. The reason we don’t get to read or hear about such things is because they are mostly kept secret.

According to the Taiwanese commission, HTC has evidence of Samsung’s debauchery. As a matter of fact, HTC, in coordination with the Taiwanese Federal Trade Commission authorities, is already proceeding with a lawsuit against Samsung.

Is Samsung Scared of HTC Products?

Well, not exactly, “products”, it zeroes down to one device for the time being: it is called HTC One. Yeah, the bad ass smartphone, which is why Samsung has a reason to hire students who would make crap posts about the Taiwanese smartphone.

HTC One Vs. Samsung Galaxy S4 – CNET Images

By the way, if this article goes viral at Reddit, maybe there is a slight possibility that someone might downvote or say something negative about HTC One on behalf of Samsung. However, it is going to happen by a long shot; people can speak up their mind whenever they feel like doing so. In fact, Redditors are pretty famous for their brutal truth. If they are hurling obscenities against this article, they have their opinion to stick with.  

Anyway, as the story goes, Samsung supposedly hired students and random youngsters to write inflammatory comments of HTC products. In addition, these posters also recommended Samsung products, while indirectly referring visitors to Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones. The Taiwanese FTC spokesperson: Sun Lih Chyun said, “The case was set up last week after we received complaints.”

Samsung, on the other hand, is obviously denying these accusations. For now, Samsung reps are saying that it was “unfortunate” and the reason this incident took place because there was probably some kind of “misunderstanding” between the two companies. Blah Blah Blah, and Samsung would never revert to false advertising and blah blah blah – you know the usual stuff that company reps say.

Samsung also said that “we have stopped all marketing that involves posting of anonymous comments.” CNET guys also received a reply from Samsung. I am quoting it as it is:

Samsung Electronics remains committed to engaging in transparent and honest communications with consumers as outlined in the company’s Online Communications Credo. We have encouraged all Samsung Electronics employees worldwide to remain faithful to our Credo. The recent incident was unfortunate, and occurred due to insufficient understanding of these fundamental principles.

Samsung Electronics Taiwan (SET) has ceased all marketing activities that involve the posting of anonymous comments, and will ensure that all SET online marketing activities will be fully compliant with the company’s Online Communications Credo.

We regret any inconvenience this incident may have caused. We will continue to reinforce education and training for our employees to prevent any future recurrence.