Samsung Galaxy phone ads may have been too splashy for Australia

Samsung is facing multi-million dollar fines in Australia, as the country watchdog sued the company over misleading Galaxy phone ads. 

According to Reuters, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sued Samsung, claiming the company promoted Galaxy phones as suitable to use in swimming pools and saltwater without having adequately tested them for such activities. 

“The ACCC alleges Samsung’s advertisements falsely and misleadingly represented Galaxy phones would be suitable for use in, or for exposure to, all types of water, including in ocean water and swimming pools, and would not be affected by such exposure to water for the life of the phone, when this was not the case,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said in a statement. 

The ACCC claims that Samsung has “widely advertised” Galaxy phones as water resistant since 2016, in more than 300 different ads. At the same time, the company did not (sufficiently) test the phones’ water resistance, and it denied warranty claims from consumers whose phones were damaged in water.  

The phones in question were manufactured from 2016 to 2019 and range from the Galaxy S7 to the new S10, Note 7 to 9, and A5 to A8. Samsung sold more than four million Galaxy phones in Australia, ACCC claims. 

Samsung told Reuters that it stands by its advertising. The company claims it complied with Australian law and it plans to defend the case.

Interestingly, Samsung appears to have deleted its ads directed at the Australian market that promote water resistance. In the tweet below, the video is unavailable, and we were unable to find any of the social media ads ACCC has highlighted. 

We’ve reached out to Samsung for comment and will update this post when we hear from them.