





Samsung attempts to undermine Apple's mystique and its hold on consumers with a Galaxy S II ad that presents hard core Apple fans as lemmings who are so blinded by marketing that they can't acknowledge a superior phone.

The ad, which was set to premiere on Facebook Tuesday evening and then hit TV on Thanksgiving, doesn't mention Apple or the iPhone 4S by name, however. Instead, fans are shown lining up outside an Apple Store-like location nine hours before it opens. "Someone just left," says one woman. "Why would they be leaving when we're only nine hours away?" asks her male companion. "Uh oh," says another guy in line, reading off his phone. "The blogs are saying the battery looks sketchy."

Just then, a cool group of young men and women come into the line's view sporting a Samsung Galaxy S II. The crowd is drawn to the phone, although one guy haughtily dismisses it. "I could never get a Samsung," he says. "I'm creative." "Dude, you're a barista," his friend replies. The ad also makes much of the S II's 4G compatibility (iPhones are still on 3G), which leads to the kicker: "The next big thing is already here."

Although the ad takes a new approach, Samsung is hardly the first brand to challenge Apple's cult-like following. SanDisk bashed "iPuppets" and "iSheep" in 2006 when it took on the iPod's dominance in the portable MP3 player category. More recently, Motorola attempted to one-up one of Apple's proudest moment — its legendary "1984" Macintosh ad — with a Super Bowl ad for the Xoom tablet that, like this latest Samsung commercial, presents Apple followers as clueless automatons.

What do you think? Will Samsung's approach be successful? Do you give them points for trying? Sound off in the comments.