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From the "When will they ever learn?" department: Best Buy (NYSE: BBY ) is receiving some well-deserved bad publicity today, after suspending an employee who made a comedy video tweaking Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL ) new iPhone 4 and its adoring fans.
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 (NYSE: S ) , which he explains is faster, has a bigger screen, higher resolution cameras, replaceable battery and memory card, a cheaper monthly bill, and it's not on AT&T's (NYSE: T ) overloaded network. Undeterred, consumer bear wants an iPhone, today, because "It's the best phone." (You can see it here, but be warned: There's a lot of foul language in it.)
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 (Nasdaq: GOOG ) Android debate. He did not identify himself or Best Buy in any way. If this is indeed the full story, I believe Best Buy is crossing a line it shouldn't. And whatever negatives the store was trying to avoid, it's now receiving a thousandfold. In an age of viral videos and nattering nabobs of the blogosphere, how could Best Buy expect anything else?
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!
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Report this Comment On July 02, 2010, at 4:25 PM, kitikatism wrote:
what happened to freedom of speech?
Report this Comment On July 02, 2010, at 4:36 PM, btblomberg67 wrote:
Although I think the guy is an idiot, Best Buy is out of line.
Report this Comment On July 02, 2010, at 5:12 PM, breakingeven wrote:
There's no guarantee of freedom of speech between 2 parties in a contract, unless the contract guarantees that.
Report this Comment On July 02, 2010, at 8:40 PM, kitikatism wrote:
So you're saying best buy makes you sign a contract that says you can't make a animated video about making fun of apple lemmes looking for an iPhone at a fictional store named Phone Mart?
Report this Comment On July 02, 2010, at 9:29 PM, elchivato wrote:
this is the biggest cross of out First Amendment rights that i've ever heard of, what is BestBuy thinking. Anyone who thinks differently is a corporate shill and should have Bestbuy decide wether they should have kids or not.
Report this Comment On July 03, 2010, at 12:14 AM, ddeleo wrote:
That problem is where do you draw the line, and whose right is it to draw that line. What if he made the movie put it out there and no one watched it. Is it still wrong? So what makes it wrong in Best Buys eyes. Is it the number of people that would see it? What is the definition of "many people" then. 5, 10. If there was no movie but he ad lib'd the routine in a bar or train station is that the same. If he likes one phone over another phone can he say that to others or is that wrong. Does he have to like everything BestBuy sells. If so thats a lot of stuff to have to suppress. Should they only hire people who can't talk or express themselves?
Report this Comment On July 03, 2010, at 2:21 PM, exileonmainst wrote:
The video is brilliant! And if Best Buy says on their website that "We Make Technology Deliver On Its Promises" but fire the creator of this video, then what does this say about Best Buy?
Report this Comment On July 03, 2010, at 10:25 PM, plange01 wrote:
the new iphone is nothing special and will soon fill ebay to the point of overflowing with resales just like the already near forgotten ipad has done.....
Report this Comment On July 04, 2010, at 1:22 AM, ChrisPnoyboy wrote:
I see three problems. It's clearly mocking one of Bestbuy's better selling products. It's showing the stupidity of Bestbuy's customers. It also was made by a current employee who admits he makes videos and works there.
It's a funny and great video but I've said this before, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. He could quit and mock people all he wants or suck it up and continue working for Bestbuy.
Report this Comment On July 04, 2010, at 11:12 AM, elchivato wrote:
Chris, i agree with don't bite the hand that feeds you but where in his video did it say anything about BestBuy? It could of been referencing any retailer. It could of been referencing any made up retailer for that matter. We let corporations steal our homes and money from our 401K's now we're going to let them take away our rights as citizens of this country. Too far.
Report this Comment On July 04, 2010, at 11:50 PM, Acesnyper wrote:
I personally find things like this ever so distasteful on the part of Best Buy.
We are talking about a younger, lower level employee. Who did something in his free time that really has nothing to do with work. As Best Buy even said he's a film maker, so maybe he's just going for a laugh.
He went out of his way to keep his company name far away from this. It wasn't a spoofed name either, just a flat made up name.
This is going to bite Best Buy. Rightfully so.
Then again, take in that this is all coming from an adult who refuses to carry/own a cell phone and, my only phone is corded. So my opinion might be quite voided to many eyes.
Report this Comment On July 05, 2010, at 10:02 PM, davidhdennis wrote:
I saw the video before this. It was sort of funny but in a dumb, tasteless way. A lot of modern humor is like that, so I think it's the culture more than the creator at fault.
Best Buy may be causing themselves some grief here because at no time did I ever link the video to Best Buy or any other specific retailer. They are now making sure the whole universe knows the video was made by a bitter employee. That's stupid.
I bought my new iPhone 4 after a torturous process involving lining up at 5am multiple times, so I kinda feel the pain of the poor guy who has no iPhones to sell and no customer for anything but iPhones.
The First Amendment is about government restrictions on speech and so technically it does not impact the relationship between Best Buy and its employees. Since that video is highly unlikely to prevent anyone from actually wanting an expensive smartphone, I don't see how it in any way impacts Best Buy's sales. As a result, I don't think it's illegal for Best Buy to fire this fellow, but I think it's highly inadvisable. Maybe they should figure out how to use his skills in ways that support the company.
D
Report this Comment On July 06, 2010, at 9:35 AM, Turfscape wrote:
How much you want to bet this guy's iPhone-bashing attitude carried over into the workplace, too. As you can see from the comments, those who hate Apple REALLY hate Apple and will take every opportunity to evangelize that hatred for Apple products. If you don't believe in the products you sell, find other work! This guy could have found a job at a Sprint store, or a Verizon store...but he chose to work for a company with a strong business relationship with Apple. Who's really out of line here?
Report this Comment On July 08, 2010, at 11:24 AM, EvilPhD wrote:
How in the world did this get tied back to Best Buy? This video has no mention of Best Buy in it at all.
Someone went through a lot of trouble to link this guy to a Best Buy store.
While the whole thing is voiced by Microsoft SAM, which is like nails to a chalkboard, it is a bit funny and shows the sheep like behavior of Apple consumers.
Best Buy really should be protecting this guy's free rights and downplaying this. They are only shooting themselves in the foot. (writes down note to self never to work at Best Buy).
I can understand all the hooplah if specifically Best Buy was mentioned, but since it was not Best Buy should have just left it alone.
I don't think that based on the content Best Buy has a real case for terminating his employment.
Report this Comment On July 09, 2010, at 6:28 PM, pbealtx wrote:
i could better understand if Apple were attacking him for "slander", but Best Buy?????
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