【2019 Archives】

019 Archivesgeneral consensus when a TV starts to show static or blacks out is that something has gone terribly wrong. When you see it happen, you might get up, check the cord or cable box, and if you're watching one of your favorite shows, you'd probably get upset.

But that's not stopping Samsung from making this annoyance occur on millions of television sets in the UK when it begins running its new TV ads.

Samsung announced Friday it will "turn off" an estimated 8 million TVs this weekend, leaving the screens completely black in a radical new advertisement series that features literally nothing. The point of the new ad campaign is to highlight the new "Ambient Mode" capabilities of Samsung's QLED TVs, which allow them to blend into a home's environment.

Samsung's new "Ambient Mode" can essentially show art or patterns when the TV is not in use, blending into the surroundings in a person's home. For example, if the QLED TV is attached to a brick wall, you can have it repeat that pattern on screen — ideally drawing less attention to the gigantic TV taking up wall space.

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Samsung will begin highlighting its new prank ad series with the hashtag #TVblackout, and in a more audacious move, the company will take over the gigantic digital displays in Piccadilly Circus, one of the central areas of London, as well as interrupting advertisements before cinema screenings of Solo: A Star Wars Movie.

The company says its expects to reach an estimated 49 million viewers across 10 days, with over 200 TV spots on multiple channels. Samsung will even run the controversial ad during the Champions League final on May 26. We just hope that diehard soccer fans realize that its a prank before they do any real damage to their aging TV sets.

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