From the "When will they ever learn?" department: Best Buy
The employee is 25-year-old Brian Maupin, who's been selling phones at a Kansas City, Mo. Best Buy for three and a half years, according to TechCrunch. His video involves one cartoon bear approaching another at "Phone Mart," which is nothing but a grassy outdoor area. In a robotic voice, the consumer bear asks for Apple's shiny new toy: "Where is the iPhone 4? I need an iPhone 4."
Explaining that Phone Mart is out of the iPhones, the salesbear tries to interest the consumer bear in an HTC Evo from Sprint
Best Buy is not identified in any way, shape, or form in the video. Still, as the comedic satire hit more than a million views on YouTube, his bosses became aware of it -- and they weren't happy. Maupin told Kansas City's KMBC-TV that the store's general manager gave him two options: "You can quit right now or we can go through due process with (human resources)." Refusing to quit, Maupin will learn his fate early next week.
While even Maupin himself can partially see Best Buy's side, I find this just another case of corporate cluelessness. Here's a guy who made a comedy video on his own time, which nicely played up the Apple-vs.-Google
Thankfully, there's some hope for a happy ending here. I left a message to get Best Buy's side of the story, and received this statement via email:
Brian Maupin is an aspiring film-maker who is a Best Buy employee. This is an important situation for us because it involves balancing our social media guidelines with a commitment to creating a supportive environment for our employees. That's why our investigation into this matter will take some time before it's concluded, and why we look forward to seeing Brian back on the job come Monday.
Stay tuned!