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Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

diyphotography.net

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Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#91

Post by TeMPOraL »

ur-whale wrote: post #76
ilamont wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organizations most definitely have their own cultures including codified practices, management frameworks, and a culture of "X." Patterns of behavior emerge from those cultures, and can lead to success or failure. It's been studied quite extensively - browse HBR.org to see research and theory about this. If you're fortunate, the company you deal with as a customer or employee has a culture that rewards competence and…

This is only true insofar as the company remains small. As soon as it grows, the cultural standards you describe diverge. Google is the perfect example of this, where while they remained at a reasonable size adhered to their cultural standards staunchly. They've grown way past the point where that's sustainable and are now exhibiting the exact same predatory business attitude they swore they wouldn't ever (dragonfly,…

If anything, your argument works in favour of "company culture". As it grows, company behaviour increasingly averages to profit optimization. A purely market-driven entity does not have any morals other than those enforced through threat of lost profit - be it via regulatory action, or loss of market share.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#92

Post by mchannon »

trumped wrote: post #63
amatecha wrote: post #2

Ah man, I immediately thought of another recent case of a smartphone manufacturer faking their phone's camera shots[0] (turns out TFA links to it as well). Just a single instance of this kind of fraud is enough for me to write off a brand forever, frankly. If you're lying to my face before I even bought your product, who knows how much else you're lying about. Zero trust for companies like this. [0] https://www.diyph…

Its pretty hard to find a company that never lied in ads

“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#93

Post by pavel_lishin »

oh_sigh wrote: post #70
mook wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not indicting 300,000+ people, it's one person: the chairman of Samsung Electronics for not having set a culture where blatant lying results in negative repercussions.

Did you give him a chance to fire this marketing professional in Malaysia? 299,995/300,000 behave well. 5 people misbehave. Bad culture!

5 people got caught misbehaving.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#94

Post by TeMPOraL »

sandworm101 wrote: post #67
wpietri wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of thinking on brands is always a puzzle to me. Samsung certainly takes credit for every good thing done by their employees and contractors. Why does a radically different standard apply when they do something bad? Even if it made sense in some light, it's still a bad approach, because it means people with power and money are never held accountable for things that happen on their watch.

We hold them to account by not purchasing their products. But we call out the mistake for what it is: underhanded marketing. It isn't like they installed spyware or were handing personal data to foreign governments.

> But we call out the mistake for what it is: underhanded marketing.

Let's call it for what it really is, then: lying in your face, at scale.

> We hold them to account by not purchasing their products.

Totally agreed. That's one of few ways to send them feedback directly. Other ways would include lawsuits or voting for regulation change.

Given that signal here is roughly proportional to amount of lost market share, complaints in this thread are a fully legit, if indirect way, of getting more people to maybe buy less of their products.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#95

Post by TeMPOraL »

oh_sigh wrote: post #59
pavel_lishin wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many fuck-ups do you require before writing off a company? Would the entire board have to personally come and shit in your mailbox?

The question isn't how many, but the scale of the fuck-up, and what it represents about the company. Maybe 5 people would have known that this ad campaign was using a non-phone-produced photo. Apparently that is enough for you to indict the 300,000+ people who work there.

It's not indicting people (except those directly responsible and those officially accountable); it's indicting an organization. It's what you should do; a corporation responds only to things that impacts its profits; complaining, if it leads to less people giving them money, is a correct way of sending a market signal. That's how capitalism is supposed to work.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#96

Post by paulgb »

amatecha wrote: post #2

Ah man, I immediately thought of another recent case of a smartphone manufacturer faking their phone's camera shots[0] (turns out TFA links to it as well). Just a single instance of this kind of fraud is enough for me to write off a brand forever, frankly. If you're lying to my face before I even bought your product, who knows how much else you're lying about. Zero trust for companies like this. [0] https://www.diyph…

> I immediately thought of another recent case of a smartphone manufacturer faking their phone's camera shots[0] (turns out TFA links to it as well).

In fact, TFA wrote the earlier article, which suggests a good rule for other companies thinking about doing this: before you buy the stock photo, check if the photographer has called other companies out on doing the exact same thing in the past :)

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#97

Post by mc32 »

rmc wrote: post #79
mc32 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes mfgs don’t have enough oversight over their creative agencies. Often agencies use interns for these kinds of image search —and things fall through the cracks. Not exculpating the mfgs or agencies just putting it out there that sometimes it’s some poor schlep who ends up holding the bag.

> Often agencies use interns for these kinds of image search —and things fall through the cracks. You mean... if we paid employees properly, it might prevent fuck ups like this?!?!

You’re asking that creative agencies all iver the world change how they do business. It’d be a good thing for employees and interns especially, no doubt. I just don’t see them seeing a need to change their hiring practices any time soon.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#98

Post by ilamont »

ur-whale wrote: post #76
ilamont wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organizations most definitely have their own cultures including codified practices, management frameworks, and a culture of "X." Patterns of behavior emerge from those cultures, and can lead to success or failure. It's been studied quite extensively - browse HBR.org to see research and theory about this. If you're fortunate, the company you deal with as a customer or employee has a culture that rewards competence and…

This is only true insofar as the company remains small. As soon as it grows, the cultural standards you describe diverge. Google is the perfect example of this, where while they remained at a reasonable size adhered to their cultural standards staunchly. They've grown way past the point where that's sustainable and are now exhibiting the exact same predatory business attitude they swore they wouldn't ever (dragonfly,…

Cultures can absolutely change and evolve, in response to changes in leadership, new sources of revenue, or growth. Apple 1984 vs 1994 vs 2004 vs 2014 is a good example, particularly in the late 80s and 90s when it changed quite radically. Yet Steve Jobs' design-focused culture and marketing prowess (along with some negative aspects) re-emerged when he came back, and even as the company's growth exploded.

Google's cultural shift is not just a byproduct of growth, it's a byproduct of the founders and early leadership stepping back and professional technology executives and MBAs taking over. Compare that to Apple, which followed a similar journey but boomeranged back under Steve Jobs Act II. Cook, himself an MBA, is more in the Jobs mold when it comes to corporate ethics; I think his stance on privacy and other issues is admirable. And it's one of the largest tech companies in the world.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#99

Post by asteli »

covercash wrote: post #82
cgriswald wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung is completely untrustworthy. I might buy another television from them in the future as the screen quality on my Samsung televisions has always been great. But their smart appliances are a joke. Read the reviews for any of the required Samsung "Smart" Apps and you'll find terrible software that doesn't work. Where it does work, at best it technically meets the advertised criteria, but in other cases it seems l…

I keep hoping someone will kickstart a display company that sells just really amazing displays and none of the “smart” garbage. I read that some manufacturers even serve up ads in their latest smart UIs. That’s infuriating!

Have you looked at Monoprice's stuff? They sell displays using the same panels as some of the nice name brand stuff, and I'd personally be surprised if they packaged the same BS into their house brand displays.

Re: Samsung used my DSLR photo to fake their phone’s “portrait mode”

#100

Post by IAmGraydon »

Who cares? They disclose the fact that the photo wasn’t taken with the phone right on the page. It’s for illustrative purposes, not to show the exact quality of the phone’s functions. The author of this blog also just outed a paying client. If they paid, they can use it however they like (within the terms of the licensing agreement). This is a great way for the author to ensure they never sell another photo to a large company.
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