Skip to main content

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

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!”

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.

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
Former Digital Trends Contributor
An avid gadgets and Internet culture enthusiast, Natt Garun spends her days bringing you the funniest, coolest, and strangest…
9 best laptops of 2024: tested and reviewed
The MacBook Air on a white table.

To earn the crown as the best laptop in 2024, a device needs to have it all: gorgeous design, killer performance, a productive keyboard, long-lasting battery life, and much more.

Each of the laptops below has been vetted thoroughly by Digital Trends. Whether it's an affordable Chromebook or a top-of-the-line gaming laptop, they've all been subjected to real-world testing, as well as benchmark and battery tests, to collect enough data to objectively pit them against each other.

Read more
All the ways Intel Macs are still better than Apple Silicon Macs
cheap macbook deals

MacBooks are pretty amazing these days. Thanks to the efficiency of Apple Silicon, you get all-day battery life, as well as the ability to edit videos when unplugged from power. The new MacBook Air with the M3 chip is even good enough for gaming.

All of that is in contrast to the Intel Macs of the past.

Read more
This bundle deal saves you $1,000 on an Alienware PC and monitor
An Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop alongside a gaming monitor on a desk.

You don't have to go through gaming PC deals and monitor deals yourself because there are bundles like this one from Dell -- the Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop and the Alienware 34-inch curved QD-OLED gaming monitor for a package price of $2,900, which is $1,000 less the original price of $3,900. It's still not cheap, but you'll be getting a top-of-the-line gaming rig with just one purchase. You'll have to hurry with the transaction though, as we're not sure if the bundle will still cost cheaper than usual by tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Alienware Aurora R15 gaming PC and 34-inch curved QD-OLED gaming monitor
It's the Alienware Aurora R16 that sits on top of our list of the best gaming PCs, but its predecessor, the Alienware Aurora R15, remains a worthwhile purchase because of the power that it packs. It's equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor, AMD Radeon RX 7900 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM that's the sweet spot for high-end gamers, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. These specifications make it more than enough to run the best PC games without any issues. The gaming desktop also features a 1TB SSD for ample storage space, and it comes with Windows 11 Home pre-installed.

Read more