Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

My lady brains can’t comprehend this terribly sexist Samsung SSD commercial

Natt Garun
By
sexist samsung ssd commercial 840 evo
Image used with permission by copyright holder

As if it isn’t hard enough to make it as a female in this male-dominated tech industry, Samsung has gone and perpetuated the stereotype of a computer-illiterate housewife in its latest commercial for the Samsung 840 EVO Solid-State Drive. Advertisements for computer accessories are generally never sexy, but making your female clientele sound like a complete idiot probably isn’t going to make things better.

In the commercial, which Samsung released and quickly pulled after an outcry, three different “clients”/bad actors talk about how they use computers in their daily lives. “I do homework, I play games … I also share files with friends,” an Asian male says, complete with glasses and a giant computer screen ready to play some sort of RPG. “I mainly share files for work,” says some other corporate-looking white dude, dressed in a slick button-up and tie. “I look at pictures and videos of my kids,” says the lone female, wearing pink in her perfect country-style kitchen. “I use the Internet … that’s about it!”

Recommended Videos

As if the lame acting isn’t offensive enough, Samsung goes on to hand these three figures the new EVO SSD to illustrate how easy it is to install and enhance their computer’s processing powers. The nerdy Asian is excited. Corporate white guy is all business-y and pretends he’s heard of this magical SSD device. “Whaaat?” the girl dumbly replies, as if the video crew just gave her an invitation to a party in their pants. Oh, just kidding, she just doesn’t know what to do with this computer thingy.

Related

Samsung evo ssd sexist commercialAfter the commercial proceeds to explain how simple it is to install the SSD (comparing it to “playing with little toy bricks” for the girl), the males get right to work and enjoy their faster computers. The girl stays stuck at how proud she is that she’s able to use a screwdriver.

Although the ad was originally posted some time earlier this summer, it caught public eye again after a Reddit user posted it in the video subreddit. One user claiming to be the actor who portrayed the business man said that they were told to speak slowly, as the commercial will be dubbed over in Korean. “They ask us to exaggerate since many Korean people feel thats how we ‘naturally’ act,” he wrote. “[It’s] a promotional video, not a TV commercial, meaning it will be shown at conventions and expos and in-house.” Great, so it’s made for the people responsible for putting these things on the market!

I digress. My Asian, woman brains can’t comprehend the level of absurdity. Am I supposed to be excited about this SSD or clueless? Samsung has removed the ad from the Web, but thankfully, UK-based computer retailer Dabs.com has uploaded its copy. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Natt Garun
Natt Garun
Former Digital Trends Contributor
An avid gadgets and Internet culture enthusiast, Natt Garun spends her days bringing you the funniest, coolest, and strangest…
4 things you can do with Surface Duo that you can’t on other smartphones
Surface Duo

Microsoft's Surface Duo is finally shipping on September 10, and we now know just how much it'll cost: $1,400. It's a high asking price, making it difficult not to make comparisons to other phones. In a world of iPhones, Galaxies, and Pixels, the Surface Duo is a newcomer with a lot to prove. It's the first dual-screen or foldable phone to hit the market either.

But Microsoft does have a few tricks up its sleeve. Backed up by its rich ecosystem of apps and a close relationship with Google, Microsoft has brought four features to the Surface Duo that hard to find elsewhere.
Two screen multitasking
Topping our list at No. 1 is two-screen multitasking, which has been billed by Microsoft as one of the top-selling points for Surface Duo. Similar to what you can do with your laptop, on the Duo, you're able to create app groups, stack your apps on each of the two-screens, swipe them around, or span a single app across the screen to get more done.

Read more
How to delete or hide chats in Microsoft Teams
Running Microsoft Teams on the Galaxy Tab S8.

Microsoft Teams is a terrific workplace platform for keeping the camaraderie strong. Featuring collaborative messaging, video conferencing, and file-sharing tools, it’s your one-stop-shop for in-office, hybrid and at-home workers alike. But anyone with a long history of using Teams will tell you how clogged up your message stockpile can get. Fortunately, deleting and hiding these exchanges is relatively easy to do, and we’ve put together this guide to help.

Read more
Why Llama 3 is changing everything in the world of AI
Meta AI on mobile and desktop web interface.

In the world of AI, you've no doubt heard about what OpenAI and Google have been up to. And now, Meta's Llama LLM (large language model) is becoming an increasingly important player in the game, especially with its open-source nature. Meta recently made a big splash with the launch of its Llama 3 AI model, and it's shaken up the field dramatically.

The reasons why are multiple and varied. It's free to use, it has a wide user base, and yes, it's open source, to name but a few. Here's why Llama 3 is taking the AI industry by storm and may shape its future for some time to come.
Llama 3 is really good
We can debate until the cows come home about how useful AIs like ChatGPT and Llama 3 are in the real world -- they're not bad at teaching you board game rules -- but the few benchmarks we have for how capable these AI are give Llama 3 a distinct advantage.

Read more