All the memes from the Huawei $54 phone fiasco
SINGAPORE — Singapore’s over-50-year-olds were out and about last Friday engaging in active ageing by making a beeline for Huawei’s $54 phone. But the hordes of quinquagenarians and older folks were left sorely disappointed after Huawei said they did not have the stocks to make good on their National Day promotion.
Huawei Singapore announced last week that it would offer its Y6 Pro smartphone for sale at $54, down from the original price of of $198, for three days from 26 to 28 July. This promotion was open only to those aged 50 and above.
Singaporeans were stunned when they viewed images and videos posted online of malls and Huawei stores besieged by throngs of senior citizens which triggered fears of all-out riots, so much so that police armed with submachine guns had to be called in to keep the peace in one instance.
Here are some memes about this embarrassing episode of “Kiasu Singaporeans queueing for things”:
Some might say Huawei gong jiao wei (“talking cock” or trying to pull a fast one) for its poorly executed promotion.
This is another Hokkien phrase that sums up the whole kerfuffle:
People couldn’t resist comparing Singapore’s Huawei frenzy to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests:
Some think it might be a clever PR strategy:
Huawei staff must have been overwhelmed by the crowds that turned up at their stores:
Some saw a similarity between Huawei’s promo and elderly Singaporeans’ CPF savings:
CPF itself chimed in on the issue, touting the CPF Life annuity scheme as a much better alternative to ephemeral phone promotions:
