Samsung is rolling out a new video series as part of the media blitz teasing the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, due for a huge Times Square launch event on Mar. 14.
The new videos feature Jeremy, a diminutive, bucktoothed boy who, for reasons unknown, gets the first look at the Galaxy S IV.
Jeremy, whose background is vague, is summoned to a corporate boardroom, chauffeured by a chatty driver. He rejects the milk and cookies offered to him in favor of What's In the Box, ostensibly the repository of the Galaxy S IV.
The first video in the series reveals no specs whatsoever, and the phone is represented only by a golden glow.
After returning home with his prize, Jeremy is accosted by a nosy girl, and he seeks solace in his room, alone with his dog and his phone.
"Meet Jeremy, the secret messenger of Samsung UNPACKED 2013," writes Samsung in the description of the video.
Until now, Samsung has been quite savvy with the marketing of the Galaxy S IV. The company has been happy to let speculation about the phone's specs and design run rampant, offering only the faintest hints of anything concrete.
But this Jeremy is...annoying. He seems accustomed to a lifestyle of excess and privilege -- is the audience supposed to envy this little rich kid? Obviously the target market for the phone isn't other 10 year olds, and who wants a phone coveted by a little kid? And why is he so selfish? Maybe the Galaxy S IV is so great, he wants to keep it all to himself, but that's the main marketing gimmick for children's cereal, not the most powerful Android smartphone of the year.
Jeremy isn't cute, or smart, or endearing. Is the actor who plays him the son of a Samsung exec?
Perhaps all will be revealed in future episodes of the Jeremy saga. Maybe there's a lovely moral involved. But Samsung has succeeded in creating an ad even more off-putting than the "your phone is a fighter jet/Borg implant" campaign from Droid.
Here's hoping for more adult fare coming soon. Check back for the latest "Jeremy" updates as Samsung releases them.