LED TV is the latest battleground pitting Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics against each other. Their rivalry is so bitter that the two firms fighting through television advertisements. The photo is a scene from Samsung’s ad. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Hate is never a word too strong to describe the rivalry between Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. But one could argue that the feud between the two industry giants is bordering on childish, with each claiming to have the superior technology in the latest lines of ultra-thin television sets.
Light emitting diode (LED) is the television industry's buzzword at the moment, and the marketing wars between Samsung and LG have technology circles debating whose products better justify the higher price tags.
And both companies are touchy about every verbal jab thrown by the other. Through its advertising agency, Cheil Worldwide, Samsung recently submitted a compliant to the Korea Broadcasters Association (KBA), claiming that LG's television commercials for its Xcanvas LED TVs unfairly describe Samsung's competing models as inferior.
The commercial shows a car gliding up on a highway, with the voiceover reciting ``goodbye, LED that only lights boundaries. Welcome, screen filling, full LED.'' The narration ends with ``experience the difference of light in pictures, Xcanvas Full LED.''
The ``LED that only lights boundaries'' clearly refers to Samsung's latest television models, which are based on edge-lit LED lighting. In comparison, LG's televisions are based on an LED direct backlighting system, which makes the televisions a little bulkier than Samsung products, but also enables better sharper pictures, company officials claim.
Samsung is clearly not too flattered about the arguments over picture quality, and accuses LG of attempting a smear job to label its technology as ``outdated.''
Samsung's irritation is understandable, but it's unclear what the company wants from KBA, which is a self-regulatory body and has no authority to review and regulate television advertisements.
``There is not much we can do. If Samsung wants a real change, they should take the issue to the Korea Communications Standards Commission,'' said a KBA representative.
Samsung and LG can debate all they want in claiming that their LED models are better than the other's. But lost in the verbal catfight is the fact that neither of these companies actually produce pure LED televisions that feature LED displays.
Technically speaking, the televisions produced by Samsung and LG should be characterized as liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions that use LED backlighting.
This was actually pointed out by Kwon Young-soo, the chief executive of LG Display, who earlier this year declared to reporters that there are no LED televisions, but only models using LED as a light source, which was clearly directed as a jab at Samsung's marketing efforts.
However, LG described its back-lit LED-based LCD televisions as ``LED televisions'' in a news release just days later, apparently reluctant to lag behind its rival in promotional buzz.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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