Samsung Flew Bloggers to Berlin for IFA, and Threatened to Leave Them There ⇥ thenextweb.com

Brad McCarty writes for The Next Web:

Let’s pretend that you’re a blogger. You’re given the chance to review new, hot hardware from a major company. All that’s required is that you participate in some tasks, but these tasks would fit into your coverage so you agree. In return you get to be one of the first to go hands-on with devices and give your opinion on them. Sounds like a good deal? Well that’s what a couple of Indian participants in Samsung’s Mob!ler program thought too, until Samsung threatened to leave them stranded in Berlin, Germany.

Stupid TNW title notwithstanding, this sounds like a very dirty case of trying to massage coverage. A small glimmer of hope arose from this experience for Clinton Jeff (one of the stranded bloggers), as Steve Streza notes on Twitter:

Gained a ton of respect for @Nokia for saving @clintonjeff’s bacon after Samsung screwed him without asking for anything in return.

Nice move by Nokia, and it doesn’t sound like there are any strings attached.

Update: Looks like a French blogger was paid for this, too:

I decide with absolutely no reason (consciously) to go out to enjoy my last night without sending my report. Except… They’re all waiting for me in the lobby. They challenge me and I replied that I did not intend to write this document. I was provocative. “Just tell me what I should write so that it suits you. I can be sick or drunk. Or being a so bad ambassador that don’t respect the rules, I don’t care, really.” The person with whom I was talking gave up.

I left the hotel. But I saw two others following me in the street. WTF!?

Brutal. While they didn’t include the brand name, the photos this blogger uploaded make it very clear that they were representatives of either Samsung or Best Buy, and the latter didn’t have any Olympic presence.