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Chinese smartphone company wins bad taste of decade award, compares Apple to Nazis

Rival tech companies haven’t been shy when it comes to Apple attack ads, but one Chinese company has definitely crossed the line in a promotion for its forthcoming Android smartphone. LeTV has posted to Weibo a poster likening Apple to Nazis, a red Apple armband replacing the Nazi logo.

The underlying message is supposed to compare the claimed freedom of the Android platform with the carefully controlled iOS one, but it’s hard to imagine a more offensive way to try to communicate it.

The image appeared on the verified Weibo account of billionaire CEO of LeTV, Jia Yueting, and was first spotted by The Verge.

Update: Jia Yueting has since apologized, telling us: “I am deeply sorry for publishing the animation ad on Weibo on Friday. In hindsight, it was a misstep and I have amended it. It was insensitive and wrong to try to use such an image in a lighthearted way.”

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Comments

  1. patthecarnut - 9 years ago

    It IS a Chinese Governm…errr…company so we should expect no less.

    Pot, meet Kettle….

  2. China, this is too much! Leave your crap to you. You have absolutely no shame.

  3. Interesting though, we’ve no problem opening up restaurants called MAO…

  4. Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

    With my family having lived thru WW2 and Hitler’s concentration camps, and also my love of Apple, I take INCREDIBLE offence to this!!! How fucking dare you LeTV!!! This is disgusting on so many levels!

  5. scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

    Whatabunch of lamasslants

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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