HP has launched an advertising campaign across Europe that seeks to appeal to those who regularly need hard copies, claiming that its printers are “made to be less hated.” This tongue-in-cheek campaign features at least three TV commercials, plus posters, social media posts, POS material, and web banners, reports Marketing Communication News (h/t Ars Technica). Ironically, HP may have done more to fuel printer hate over recent years than any other.
Before looking at the new advertising campaign in more detail, it is worth a look at HP’s catalog of consumer-unfriendly behavior. The firm has angered printer customers over recent years in the following ways:
- Firmware updates that make printers balk at using previously accepted third-party consumables
- The firm’s Dynamic Security and HP+ program consumables lock-in
- Botched firmware updates which ‘brick’ devices
- Requiring ink supplies for MFP scanner & fax functions
- Device region locking
Most of those rage-inducing issues will have been caused by HP’s drive for greater profits from printers rather than forgivable incompetence. Some issues, like the ink requirement for scanning or faxing operations, are also the subject of ongoing class action lawsuits. Given the annoying volley of bullet points above, it is no surprise that people hate printers, or printer companies like HP.
Some might argue that HP has done more to create the purported printer hate than any other printer brand. It is difficult to find any printer brand more maligned than HP in past reports on the web. Looking back at other printer rage-inducing reports, we can see that Canon has also previously tried to stop people from using MFPs for non-printing purposes when the ink had run out.
The new advertising campaign on behalf of HP isn’t any admission of guilt, even though it has long been and remains one of the biggest names in printing. Checking out the three TV commercials, they each address an aspect of computer printing misery that HP reckons it has the answer to with its HP Smart App, instant ink delivery, and self-healing Wi-Fi features. In other words, the ads don’t herald HP’s printing business turning over a new leaf and pledging consumer-first behavior.
One might also view the repeated message that HP printers are “made to be less hated” as a cynical rouse. Marcomm News says this ad campaign acknowledges “the universal disdain for printers.” Lastly, the campaign uses humor to pass on its message, seeking to identify with and disarm those who have had previous bad experiences with printers.
