SanDisk’s Anti-iPod Campaign — Lemmings Redux?
5:36 am, May 23rd, 2006, Leander Kahney
SanDisk has launched a new advertising campaign that portrays iPod users as mindless sheep or robots.
The iDon’t campaign asks listeners to “Think for yourself” and “resist the monotony of the white earbuds.”
“Now is the time to break free from restrictive formats and a single source of music,” it says. “It’s time for choice, for freedom, for self-expression — and for all independent spirits to stand up and say “iDont.” You don’t need to follow. Now there is an alternative.”
The alternative is SanDisk’s own Sansa e200 (there’s a memorable name), which looks like an iPod knockoff with a pseudo-scroll wheel.
The campaign is reminiscent of Apple’s ill-fated 1985 Lemmings commercial, which portrayed potential customers as lemmings walking off a cliff. The spot is judged to be Apple’s biggest advertising blunder. It’s never a good idea to insult potential customers.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Advertising, iPod | Comment on this article
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Funny thing, it is Windows only. Yeah, that will kill the iPod.
xen ix, on May 23rd, 2006 at 6:52 am
Pretty dumb to make it Windows-only. Windows users are the last people I would ask to “resist conformityâ€Â.
I like the design though. (And don’t own an iPod)
subw, on May 23rd, 2006 at 9:09 am
Bloggers should all turn off their comments. I haven’t seen one useful thing said in a comment for at least 6 months.
Adam Saunders, on May 26th, 2006 at 3:24 am
I saw the site and did not see what it was hoping to accomplish. I will admit to using a SanDisk card in my palm pilot for storage of files and I love it. I have the freedom of what songs I listen to and with the right software I can even use ITunes without cracking the files.
SanDisk is a great company but made a silly error. I think the site was more geared to making a joke of the IPod’s popularity. They will certainly not win this battle with a campange like this.
Bryan Henry
http://techntoons.blogspot.com
Bryan Henry, on May 27th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Yeah, choose freedom! Choose one of the non-iPod players with proprietary formats, like ATRAC or WMV.
My real question is, why haven’t other providers adopted m4a?
haunted_i, on May 31st, 2006 at 10:52 am
I found idont.com a few months back. It’s presented as some sort of grassroots consumer movement, so I was having a hard time figuring out what made these people so mad about iPods. Then I found the link to the MP3 player…
Ben, on July 5th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Its ironic how people hate ipods for being popular, yet those people use windows, clearly the more mainstream way to go.
rag on a muffin, on July 22nd, 2006 at 10:04 pm
dude…..first of all….
SANDISK! they suck!
pros.
cool start up(cant lie)
can play videos(who wants 2 watchem on that small of a screen anyway?)
cons
windows=SUCKS!
not very preety
cheap feeling 2 the wheel
breaks VEry easily
needs 2 stop jocking the nano lol
sandisk go shove it up ures seriosuly
peter, on October 30th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
NOT FOR MAC? Simple step by step guide to Sansa on the Mac:
http://www.demasijones.com/27bstroke6/sansa_e250.html
A few other ways to kill an iPod (You can kill the revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution?):
* price: I get my Sansa e280 for 139 quid, including 8gb memory and FM radio
* much bigger display than Nano (1.8 inch) with the similar overall size at the same time (Sansa is much thicker)
* voice recording
* liquid metal back casing – can’t scratch it (only back)
* video playback
* Mass Storage Class — drag & drop files, or use it as pendrive.
* “The real shut off” – you can turn you Sansa off for good, it won’t drain your battery like any iPod
* longer battery life
* replaceable battery
Maciej, on April 6th, 2007 at 11:06 am