OnePlus has whittled down the list of 140,000 people eager to own a new OnePlus One smartphone but the finalists won’t have to break their old devices anymore. The 100 lucky winners can now opt to part with their smartphones for a more selfless cause rather than practically throwing away money to no one’s gain.
Whatever good reputation OnePlus gained all up to the reveal of its very first smartphone might have all been spent and thrown out when it announced its “Smash the Past” marketing stint. The campaign basically invited would-be OnePlus One owners to let go of the past by violently smashing their smartphone, in exchange of course for a brand new OnePlus One. Naturally, it didn’t sit well not only with other manufacturers but even with general opinion. Nonetheless, a great number of people have indeed signified their willingness to take the risk, though only 100 will be asked to make the jump.
That jump might not be so painful, or so ludicrous, anymore. OnePlus has revealed a second option: donating their current smartphones to charity. To be specific, those not willing to let their old faithful companions suffer a horrible death could hand them over to Medic Mobile, a nonprofit that takes such abandoned devices to be reused for health care professionals in remote areas of the world. It is undoubtedly a much better way to get rid of a smartphone. But OnePlus still holds the door open for those who wish to go the more brutal route.
It is quite satisfying to hear that OnePlus has come to its senses just before it embarked on a one-way trip to a PR disaster, though we can only fathom the depths of thinking that went into the original marketing campaign in the first place. However, it is perhaps even more worrying to realize that there are at least 140,000 people who are willing to literally smash their smartphones just to receive a new one, especially one that has yet to prove itself in the real world.
SOURCE: OnePlus
VIA: SlashGear
