Being stranded in a foreign country without enough money to buy yourself a ticket home is a special kind of nightmare. Samsung allegedly threatened to do exactly that to two bloggers, according to a harrowing tale on The Next Web.
The bloggers in question claim to have made it clear they were travelling to IFA on Samsung’s dime in order to cover the release of not only Samsung products, but other new gadgets as well. Still, Samsung seemed sort of pushy about treating the bloggers as brand ambassadors, despite their protests. It wasn’t until they arrived in Germany that things got really hairy.
One of the bloggers put it this way to The Next Web:
“We got a call from Samsung India saying ‘You can either be a part of this and wear the uniform, or you’ll have to get your own tickets back home and handle your hotel stay from the moment this call ends…
A few minutes later, we got a call from the Samsung India guy who said that our flights on the 6th have been cancelled, and that they’re bringing us back on the 1st instead. But this is only if, and only if, we agreed to wear at least the samsung branded shirt at the Unpacked event, and not blog about any of this incident.
“None of this should leave Berlin. Or Reach India”
It sounds crazily presumptuous at best, downright nefarious at worst.
You can just imagine the horror at being forced into indentured brand ambassadorship, and then at being stuck in another country because of your unwillingness to comply. In the end, they did get home, but only by donning some Samsung t-shirts. It’s certainly not the happiest ending, but not quite the worst either. You can get more details on how the whole thing went down over at The Next Web. [The Next Web]