Bob CollinsMotorola has spent a lot of money trying to get you addicted to your smartphone. It’s worked splendidly; people are spending most of their days looking at their phone.
So color us skeptical about a new series of ads from the tech giant lamenting that what they wanted to happen happened.
Says AdFreak:
The first spot, “Real People,” features an experiment reminiscent of the old Candid Camera show.
A lifelike mannequin, its eyes glued to the smartphone in its hand, stands anchored in various high-traffic locations around Manhattan, including the top of subway stairs and in front of a hotdog cart.
As passersby notice that the immobilized New Yorker may not be real and creep in for a closer look, they notice the message on the cellphone screen: “How many times a day do you look like this?” (The answer, of course is more times than we probably care to admit.)
The company has made an entire marketing campaign around the theme that you’re using your smartphone all wrong, including this handy quiz to assess whether you’re merely a “phonosapien” (level one), you use the phone for the basic. Or whether you’re an all-out “phonatic,” someone who’s never not on the phone.
The company is making an app available to help people reach their phone-life balance. An app.
Which goes on your phone. So you stop doing this.
The marketing campaign comes on the 10th anniversary of the first smartphone.
You did this to us, Motorola.
