A new Samsung ad featuring "the world's worst actors" is making the rounds on Reddit, where it's gleefully mocked and derided for its robotic, stereotyped acting and cringeworthy script.

The video, which has been removed from YouTube but is still available through mirrored version, advertises the South Korean company's 840 EVO solid-state hard drive. It features three absurdly stereotypical characters — the airhead housewife, the nerdy Asian gamer and the ambitious corporate type — all exalting, rather unconvincingly, the virtues of this product.

When the object is introduced to the actors, the men let out an artificial "ooh, this is the SSD..." while the clueless housewife utters a catatonic "what?" And it just gets better from there.

The technologically challenged woman is told to picture herself "playing with little toy bricks" in order to help her install the SSD, and dim understanding brightens up her face. The men, meanwhile, chant "let's do it," in a futile attempt at enthusiasm.

The exaggerated gestures and facial expressions that accompany this exchange are simply the gloriously awkward icing on the cake.

However, amid the mockery on Reddit, a user called Damienf1, who claims to be the actor playing the businessman in the ad, explains the reasoning behind some of the wooden acting, stating it was made for a Korean promo:

They force us to speak slowly since this will be dubbed over in Korean, and even when it isnt, most people viewing it will be Korean. They ask us to exaggerate since many Korean people feel thats how we 'naturally' act (most people here are not very expressive). Ive worked many jobs where I tried to act naturally only to be told by the director to act more 'bright' (ie exaggerate). its how the director and client (in this case, Samsung), WANT us to act. the script is brutal. written by non-native english speakers (...) most of the people watching it are korean and thats why they make us do all of the above. edit: almost forgot, shooting took place from 730am - 3am the next day, and by the time they shot the scenes with the girl, she was literally falling asleep in her chair, hence the stoned expression and tone :)

After the explanation, Reddit users turned to mocking the script directly, instead of just the actors. One user even explains: "I work in the conference industry. I have seen literally hundreds of such videos. They all look like this, regardless of who they are for or what they deliver."

Is Samsung's ad really that bad? Have you seen any other terrible ads lately? Let us know in the comments.

Homepage image: YouTube, goal2004