HP printers are ‘made to be less hated’
That’s according to a new campaign from the company, that is well summed up by a piece in Ars Technica:
HP knows people have grown to hate printers. It even knows that people hate HP printers. But based on a new marketing campaign the company launched, HP is OK with that—so long as it can convince people that there are worse options out there.
The marketing campaign hitting parts of Europe aims to present HP as real and empathetic. The tagline "Made to be less hated" seems to acknowledge people's frustration with printers. But HP's a top proponent of the exact sort of money-grabbing, disruptive practices that have turned people against printers.
What is HP’s defence? To quote one of the creative people behind the campaign:
Based on the insight that printer-rage is a universally shared experience, the “Made to be less hated” campaign stays true to the insight… …we don’t promise that you’ll love it, but you won’t hate it as much as your previous printer.
These are a few reactions on a Reddit post that caught my attention:
Probably less hated than the printers from the late 90s/early 2000s that were able to smell your fear and decided to stop working whenever you needed them the most.
You know you have failed as a company when you have to make an ad saying you are designing your stuff to be less hated.
Who doesn't love the shit-ton of bloatware that installs with their print drivers? It's even better when they remove the support web sites so the bloatware crashes.
Made to be avoided would be more accurate.
Here are links to a couple of sites that have posted the campaign videos: