Samsung in Hot Waters for Misleading Advertisement Campaign

Samsung has landed in hot waters for their misleading advertisement campaign which showed that the devices are suitable for being used in pools and seawater. These ads have been taken literally by few users and have taken their devices for a swim.

Samsung in Australia during their advertising campaigns from March 2016 to October 2018 ran a series of nine ads across its different social platforms. Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, A5 (2017), A7 (2017), S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 were part of the advertisements showing them to be suitable for use in pools and seawater.

The term IPX rating is used to show the device being water/dust/ scratch resistant. As per the advertisements the Samsung devices have an IP68 rating. The IP68 rating means a device is water resistant up to 1.5 meters depth at max for up to 30 mins in “freshwater”. The freshwater has no salts or chemicals dissolved in them while seawater and swimming pool has salts and chemicals dissolved in them. These salts and chemicals can cause corrosion and if the users put their device on charge while still wet, there is an increased risk of port damage. Samsung had not clearly had not clearly defined the different effects of the seawater, swimming pool and  freshwater; and now Samsung is acknowledging them.

A total of 3.1 million of the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, A5 (2017), A7 (2017), S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 have been sold in Australia. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) have taken notice of the hundreds of complaints and reports about the issues with these devices after they were exposed to water. In some cases the water has damaged the device so that it has completely stopped working.

On behalf of all these complaints the ACCC has fined Australia with an amount of Australian $14 million ($9.6 USD) for misleading advertisement. Samsung is lucky as it got off with this amount, the new rules are more strict with severe and greater penalties.

The smartphone manufacturing companies should educate their shoppers about the different meanings of their IPX ratings and also avoid dubious and misleading advertisements.

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