Newegg Commercial Hits Close to Home With Best Buy
posted Sunday Jun 12, 2011 by Jon Wurm
Even though Newegg does quite well and has been around for a while, they have managed to remain relatively quiet and under the radar until a certain TV and YouTube commercial of theirs hit too close to home with Best Buy. Watch the attached video and you will notice two things. The employee portrayed in the commercial looks a lot like a Best Buy employee and certainly acts like one. Also the 'Take it from a Geek' slogan at the end seems to have rubbed Best Buy's Geek Squad the wrong way. Those two things also seem to be why Best Buy served up a cease and desist order urging Newegg to stop hurting their employees' feelings and to stop infringing on Geek Squad's good name. It's really quite amusing to read. The entire first page is Best Buy telling Newegg about how awesome Geek Squad is, I highly recommend you read it over. Hit the break to watch the controversial commercial and have a good laugh.
Of course, it's not Newegg's intention to offend any one company in particular or any at all. Which is why they have added this disclaimer in response to the cease and desist. Now it just comes off as Best Buy being sensitive about one of their most prominent weaknesses.
THIS ADVERTISEMENT PHOTOPLAY IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY SIMILARITY TO REAL PERSONS (LIVING OR DEAD), BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS, PLACES, EVENTS, OR OTHER MATERIAL IS COINCIDENTAL AND UNINTENTIONAL. IT IS SOLELY INTENDED TO PARODY AND DRAW ATTENTION TO ANY BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS (BUT NONE IN PARTICULAR) THAT PROVIDE POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND NO INFERENCES SHOULD BE DRAWN ABOUT THE IDENTITY, AFFILIATION OR LOCATION OF ANY PARTIES OR BUSINESSES DEPICTED. NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS COMMERCIAL.
Personal experience with Best Buy employees has lead me to believe that the commercial does not accurately portray all of their employees, only the vast majority of them. If you are a Best Buy employee who is not offended by this article or the commercial then congratulations, you are not part of the vast majority.
On numerous occasions I have had experiences where a seemingly personable employee actually argues with me over something I know to be correct and can prove as such. Others just don't seem to be that knowledgeable about the products in their own department. I understand referencing the tags when you have 50 laptops on display at any given time but there is far too much unfamiliarity with their products. In defense of Best Buy employees I will say that if they were better compensated, more of them might give a damn.
I just realized that Newegg left the arguing out of this commercial by mistake. So I'm going to suggest they include it in an alternate version that depicts the scenario I described above. What have your Best Buy experiences been like? Let us know in the comment section below.
